Presented to the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY

by the

ONTARIO LEGISLATIVE
LIBRARY

1980

THE TRUTH ABOUT
HOME RULE

BY

PEMBROKE WICKS, LL.B. (LONDON)

BARRISTER- AT- LAW

WITH A PREFACE
BY THE RIGHT HON.

SIR EDWARD CARSON, K.C., M.P.

ULSTER

What answer from the North
One Law, One Land, One
If England drives us foTt
We shall not fall alone.—

LONDON: SIR ISAAC PITMAN & SONS, LTD.
No. 1 AMEN CORNER, E.C. . . . 1913

PRINTED BY SIR ISAAC PITMAN
& SONS, LTD., LONDON, BATH
AND NEW YORK . 1913

J-fJ

Photo by Piccadilly A remit' Studio

THE RT. HON. SIR EDWARD CARSON, K.C., M.P.

Leader of the Unionists in Ireland and Chairman of the

Irish Unionist Party in the House of Commons.

PREFACE

BY THE RIGHT HON. SIR EDWARD CARSON,
K.C., M.P.

THE misfortunes of Ireland are a commonplace
of history. During the seventeenth and eight-
eenth centuries the country was devastated
by rebellions, insurrections, and religious
persecution, while her industrial activities were
strangled by the short-sighted jealousy of
English commercial interests. After the Union
in 1800 the restoration of Irish prosperity
was to some extent retarded by a combination
of political blunders and the genesis of a period
of violent and criminal agitation following on
the terrible misery caused by the potato famine.
This is the aspect that those who only know
Ireland through the voice of the agitator love
to dwell upon. But the dawn of the twentieth
century witnessed the effects of the deliberate
policy of the regeneration of Ireland, begun by
the Unionist party in the eighties and carried
out in the face of persistent obstruction.
During the last twenty-five years the whole
country has undergone a complete change for

iii

iv PREFACE

the better. On the eve of the full harvest of
Irish prosperity it would indeed be well if
our countrymen beyond the seas would con-
template the misfortunes likely to befall our
beloved Island, if any retrograde movement
should once more cause Ireland to cry a halt
in the race of progress and to be abandoned to
the destructive forces of political agitation and
faction struggles.

The facts of the Irish question are plain and
incontrovertible, but they tell a different story
to that conveyed by the perverted rhetoric of
the Irish Nationalist envoys to the United
States of America, and to Canada and Australia.
It is only necessary to understand the true
conditions in Ireland of to-day to appreciate
the disasters which would follow from the fulfil-
ment of Nationalist ambitions. Everywhere in
Ireland to-day are signs of great and growing
prosperity, the direct result of the Unionist
policy of resolute government and sound reform.
In pursuance of that policy seventy-five million
pounds have already been advanced by the
British people to carry out the great scheme
of Land Purchase, which has changed the whole
aspect of agricultural life in Ireland, and several
millions more have to be raised upon the credit
of the Imperial Parliament.

PREFACE v

Contrast the principles and actions of the
Irish Nationalist Party. Their appeals to vio-
lence and intimidation — the organised exclusion
from public life in Ireland of their political
opponents wherever the latter are in a minority
— their open and avowed disloyalty — and their
persistent obstruction of beneficial reforms —
all these are features which it is impossible to
disregard in considering the possible character
of a Nationalist Parliament at Dublin.

Even if we could afford to forget the dis-
astrous record of the Nationalist Party, there
are grave reasons both from an economic and a
strategic point of view against the proposal to
establish in Ireland a separate Parliament and
a separate Executive.

In the course of the present controversy I
have repeatedly asked what possible benefit
either Great Britain or Ireland could hope to
obtain from the establishment of an Irish
Parliament. I have had no answer. The
reasons which caused Pitt to bring about the
Union in 1800 apply with equal force to-day.
The danger to Great Britain remains unchanged,
while the repeal of the Union and the separation
of the exchequers of the two countries would
involve Ireland in financial ruin. The economic
interests of Ireland are bound up with those

vi PREFACE

of England and Scotland, and it is essential
for Irish prosperity that Ireland should not be
forced into the position of antagonism and
distrust that characterized the relations of
the two countries in the days of the Irish
Parliament.

Neither can we interpret the sudden conver-
sion of the Nationalist leaders to their present
attitude as other than a policy of opportunism
adopted at a time when they find it necessary
to conciliate the British electorate by profes-
sions of loyalty and toleration. For example,
we are told by Mr. Redmond in the House of
Commons that a strictly subordinate Parlia-
ment, subject to the effective supremacy of the
Imperial Parliament, would fully satisfy the
demand for Home Rule. Yet at the very time
when the Home Rule Bill is being debated over
here, the Irish Party in the United States, who
provide the funds for the Home Rule campaign
in Ireland, pass a resolution declaring that
" nothing less than absolute independence can
ever be considered by our race at home or abroad
as a final settlement of the Irish question." l

It is, indeed, difficult to follow the reasoning

1 Resolution passed at the Convention of the Ancient
Order of Hibernians in Chicago. (Reported in the Gaelic
American, 27th July, 1912.)

PREFACE vii

of those members of the Liberal Party who take
refuge in the belief that the Home Rule Bill
provides a settlement of the Irish question and
will remove from British politics the element
of uncertainty and opportunity for obstruction
caused by the presence of the Irish Nationalist
members in the House of Commons. Such a
hope is founded in illusion. It is falsified by
the provisions of the Home Rule Bill, e.g., by
the retention of forty-two members at West-
minster, and by the clause of the Bill which
provides for the re-opening at some indefinite
date in the future of the whole of the financial
relations between Great Britain and Ireland.
Further than that, in spite of the ostensible
acceptance of the Bill by the leaders of the
Nationalist Party, among their supporters there
is widespread discontent at the restrictions upon
the powers of the Irish Parliament. The
abolition of the veto of the Imperial Parliament
and the establishment of the fiscal independence
of Ireland are openly demanded even by Nation-
alist members of Parliament. To this must be
added the aspirations of the avowedly separatist
group who look for nothing less than the com-
plete separation of Ireland from England and
are able to take courage from Mr. John
Redmond's declaration in 1908 that " if there

viii PREFACE

are men who are more extreme than we are
my prayer for them is success to all their ideals
and all their hopes."1

In short, the establishment of an Irish Parlia-
ment subject to the complicated restrictions
contained in the Home Rule Bill could only
provide fresh material for agitation and fresh
opportunity for obstruction by the Nationalist
members retained at Westminster. The only
means of arriving at a permanent settlement of
the Irish question is through the growing con-
sciousness of the Irish people that Ireland's
interests are bound up with those of Great
Britain, and that under the Imperial Parliament
alone can those interests be protected and
developed — whereas government by an Irish
Parliament can have no other issue but discord,
corruption, and violent faction struggles.
Already the farmers in the south and west of
Ireland are stirred by the feeling that the policy
of the Unionist Party during the last twenty-
five years has brought about content where
formerly was misery — has produced a happy
industrious population where formerly were
congestion and ignorance.

It needs but time for the true appreciation of

1 At Dublin, September, 1908. (Freeman's Journal, Sept.
2, 1908.)

PREFACE ix

the effects of Unionist policy to overcome the
miserable intrigues of professional agitators and
secret societies. A few years hence, provided
the country be well and courageously governed
with the continuance of the Unionist policy of
fostering Irish industries and protecting Irish
interests, the arts of agitation will be used in
vain and appeals to violence will fall on deaf
ears.

It is necessary to lay stress on the hollowness
of the pretence that Home Rule means nothing
more than a provincial legislature similar to
the provincial legislatures of Canada. I will
not anticipate the chapter on Federalism in this
book beyond pointing out that the federal idea
is negatived by the determined refusal of the
Government to consider the question of Ulster
apart from the rest of Ireland. If you are
going to set up a federal system in the British
Isles, the claim of Ulster not to be subjected
to a Dublin Parliament is indisputable. Every
argument that Canadian or Australian Federal-
ists can advance in favour of the establishment
of provincial Parliaments may be applied with
double force in the case of Ulster. But the
Nationalist Party have declined to consider the
separate treatment of Ulster — the reason being
that they intend that the Irish Parliament

x PREFACE

either immediately or at some future time shall
occupy, not the essentially subordinate position
of the legislatures of Ontario or Quebec, but
the practical independence of the Federal
Parliament of the Dominion.

Even the members of the Liberal Government
denounce the suggestion of the independence
of Ireland on the model of Canada, Australia,
or South Africa — but the fact remains that the
framework of the Home Rule Bill is adapted
only to that end.

There are three conceivable forms of Govern-
ment for Ireland : the present system of govern-
ment by the Parliament of the United Kingdom,
an Independent Irish Parliament, or the Fede-
ralisation of the British Isles, with a central
Parliament at London.

Anything else is unworkable on the face of it,
and must ultimately be assimilated to one
of these three forms. The present Bill is
a hybrid creation and follows none of these
models, but is open to objections against each
of them. While a large part of the govern-
ment of the country is to remain in the hands
of the Imperial Parliament — which must be in
itself an objectionable feature to the Nation-
alist mind — the Bill contains many of the
practical dangers of Irish independence, and

PREFACE xi

all the risk of friction between the State and
Federal legislatures which is inherent in any
federal system.

To which of these three forms of government
would the Irish Constitution ultimately attain ?
Apart altogether from the merits and demerits
of federalism and the anti-federal character of
the present scheme, the idea of federation may
be ruled out, for before it could be put into
practical form, it would be necessary for the
desire to federate to exist in the other parts of
the United Kingdom. Beyond occasional
mutterings from a handful of the Scotch mem-
bers of the House of Commons there has been
no suggestion that the people of England,
Scotland and Wales desire to decentralise the
legislature of Great Britain. Without a desire
for federation in the component parts federation
is impossible.

It is equally ridiculous to expect that the
present Home Rule Bill, if passed into law,
could be regarded as a permanent constitution
for Ireland. Irresistible forces would be set
up which could only be set at rest by the com-
plete independence of Ireland or the re-estab-
lishment of the Union. It is unnecessary to
say more. The reductio ad absurdum is complete.
The policy of Unionism holds the field.

xii PREFACE

In the present volume the Home Rule
problem is considered from two points of view.
In the first place, the reasons are set out for the
conclusion that the grant of Home Rule would
prove disastrous to the prosperity of Ireland
and dangerous to the interests of Great Britain
and the Empire.

Secondly, the main features of the Home Rule
Bill, 1912, are examined, and it is shown that
apart from the obnoxious principle of the
measure, its provisions — particularly in regard
to finance — are utterly unworkable in practice.

In addition to the weighty reasons which may
be urged against Home Rule on general grounds,
it is impossible to ignore the determined opposi-
tion of Ulster and the loyal minority in other
parts of Ireland. The people of Ulster bitterly
resent the attempt to deprive them of their
birthright as citizens of the United Kingdom
under the protection of the Imperial Parliament ;
they regard with dismay the proposal to sever
the Union which they believe to be the
foundation of Irish prosperity.

May I take this occasion of making an appeal
to our fellow-citizens throughout the Empire
and to our kinsmen in blood in the United
States of America to record their protest against
the proposal to betray the loyal minority in

PREFACE xiii

Ireland into the hands of a Parliament composed
of men whose ideals they detest and whose
methods they abhor.

The writer of this book has had unique
opportunities of studying this question in its
various aspects as it has been presented in the
passage of the Bill through the House of Com-
mons and on the various political platforms
throughout the country, and I commend a
study of it to all those who prefer to consider
what Ireland really is in the present and how
it will best develop in the future rather than be
for ever nursing hatreds and discontent out of
faults and failures in the past while a brighter
dawn has arisen in our native land.

EDWARD CARSON.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
March, 1913.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I HAVE endeavoured to set out in the following pages
the grave reasons against the proposal to grant Home
Rule to Ireland. I have made no attempt to trace
the history of the Home Rule movement from its
inception in the middle of last century, nor to describe
the lurid period of Fenian agitation. The task has
been ably performed by other writers and would occupy
more space than I can command.

This work has been written primarily for circulation
in the United States of America and in the great self-
governing Dominions, although I hope it may not be
without interest to readers in this country.

My thanks are due to Sir Edward Carson for the
preface which he has kindly contributed. Need I
add that I alone am responsible for the opinions
expressed in this book.

I must also express my indebtedness to Mr. Philip
Cambray, the Secretary of the Union Defence League
for many of the references to Irish newspapers, and
to my wife for her assistance in revising the manuscript.

PEMBROKE WICKS.

1 GARDEN COURT,
TEMPLE, LONDON.

XV

CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE BY THE RIGHT HON. SIR EDWARD

CARSON, K.C., M.P ill

CHAP.

I. INTRODUCTORY ..... 1

II. THE CONDITION OF IRELAND TO-DAY . 10

III. THE NATIONALIST AGITATION ... 19

IV. ULSTER 50

V. THE FEDERAL ANALOGY ... 95

VI. NAVAL AND MILITARY PROBLEMS . .112

VII. UNIONIST CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY . .124

VIII. THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 . . .140

APPENDICES —

A. TEXT OF THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 . 187

B. FINANCIAL OUTLINE OF THE HOME RULE

BILL (TREASURY WHITE PAPER) . . 227

C. REPORT OF BELFAST CHAMBER OF COM-

MERCE 231

PORTRAITS

facing page

THE RT. HON. SIR EDWARD CARSON, K.C., M.P. . Hi
THE RT. HON. A. BONAR LAW, M.P. ... 1

THE RT. HON. HERBERT ASQUITH, K.C., M.P. . 6

MR. JOHN REDMOND, M.P 19

THE RT. HON. AUGUSTINE BIRRELL, K.C., M.P. . 27
THE MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRY, K.G. . . 50

FACSIMILE OF ULSTER COVENANT . . .91

THE RT. HON. A. J. BALFOUR, M.P. . . . 126

xvii

3— (2333)

Photo by Bassano

THE RIGHT

HON. A. BONAR LAW, M.P.

Leader of the Unionist Opposition in the
House of Commons.

THE TRUTH ABOUT
HOME RULE

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

APPEARANCES — particularly in politics — are deceptive.
Those who are not familiar with the details of the
domestic politics of the United Kingdom would
imagine from the speeches of the members of His
Majesty's Government that the Home Rule question
on its merits occupies the place of honour in the
programme of the British Liberal Party. On closer
examination, it will be found that it has been forced
to the front solely on account of the predicament in
which the present Government would find themselves
if unable to rely upon the votes of the eighty-four
Irish Nationalist Members in the House of Commons.

As this book is written mainly for those who have
not the opportunity to follow the intricacies of British
politics, in order that it may not be supposed that
this is the prejudiced statement of a partisan, it is
desirable to trace as succinctly as possible the con-
siderations which lead to the conclusion that the
Home Rule Bill has been imposed upon the Liberal
Party by the force of circumstances — that they have
been obliged to make a virtue of necessity.

In the first place, on all those occasions on which
1

2 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

a Home Rule Bill has been introduced— in 1886, 1893,
and 1912 — the Liberal Government in power have been
dependent upon the Irish vote to maintain them in
office. The coincidence — if it is a coincidence — is
remarkable ; one may be pardoned for assuming that
it is in each case an illustration of cause and effect.

The following table shows the state of the different
parties in the House of Commons after the three
critical elections —

1886. 1892. 1911.
Unionist .. ..250 315 272

Liberal (and Labour) 334 274 314 ^e^i' 272

Irish Nationalist . . 86 81 84

In each case it was manifestly in the power of the
Irish Nationalist Party to turn out the Government
at any moment by voting with the Unionist
Opposition on financial questions or any other vital
matter.

It would be tedious to recite in detail the course of
political events which led up to the introduction of
the present Bill, nor would it be of interest to those
who have not followed the tangled course of British
politics in the past seven years to trace from the
speeches of Mr. Asquith and his colleagues the manner
in which his Home Rule policy has been moulded by
the pressure of circumstances.

Those who desire to be supplied with chapter and
verse for the statements which appear in the following
summary will find them carefully set out in Mr.
Cambray's able work : Irish Affairs and the Home
Rule Question.

After the great debacle in 1906, when the Liberal

INTRODUCTORY 3

Party were returned to power with a majority of
354, the greatest known to our history since the
party system was introduced, but little was heard of
the Irish question. It is true an Irish Councils Bill
was introduced with the object of setting up in
Ireland a kind of Provincial Council with restricted
powers.

This was said at the time to be an instalment of
a larger policy, and was offered as a " sop " to the
Irish electors who held the balance in several borough
constituencies in England and Scotland. At the time
it was the most the Government could offer for fear
of offending the large number of Unionists who had
returned them on a Free Trade issue. It proved
unacceptable to the supporters of the Nationalist
Party at Dublin, and was dropped. The Government
could well afford to do without the Irish votes in the
House of Commons, and no further attempt was made
to revive the Home Rule question in that Parliament.

In January, 1910, the Liberals went to the country
on the revolutionary financial scheme introduced by
Mr. Lloyd George and rejected by the House of Lords,
and were returned with a greatly reduced majority
and dependent upon the votes of the Irish members.

The new financial policy was obnoxious to the Irish
people and accordingly distasteful to the members of
the Nationalist Party, but the opportunity to sell the
votes of the party in exchange for Mr. Asquith's
pledge to introduce a Home Rule Bill was too
favourable to be lost.

Mr. Redmond agreed to support the new financial
policy of the Government — at a price — to quote his

4 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

own words : " We will vote for it (the Budget). We
are willing to pay the price, but we will not pay that
price for nothing."

In consequence, the famous " Budget " was passed
by the aid of the Irish votes and, being again pre-
sented to the House of Lords, met with no further
opposition.

It was apparent that in the event of the introduc-
tion of a Home Rule Bill, the House of Lords would
again be an insurmountable bar to its passage into
law ; and Mr. Redmond joined forces with Mr.
Asquith for the purpose of removing the power of
the House of Lords to veto legislation passed by the
House of Commons three times in three successive
sessions.

This policy was embodied in the Parliament Bill
which was passed through the House of Commons by
the assistance of the Irish votes ; and, after the
General Election in December, 1910, following on its
rejection by the House of Lords, was forced down the
throats of that assembly by the promise extracted
by Mr. Asquith from the Sovereign that a sufficient
number of Peers would be created to overcome
resistance to the proposed measure.

The Parliament Bill received the Royal Assent in
August, 1911 ; and Mr. Redmond, having removed
the permanent obstacle to Home Rule presented by
the House of Lords, has lost no time in compelling
Mr. Asquith to carry out his pledge and fulfil the only
condition upon which the support of the Irish
Nationalist Party would be continued — the introduc-
tion of the Home Rule Bill. Mr. Redmond has in

INTRODUCTORY 5

fact carried out the threat which he made at
Limerick on September llth, 1910, when he said :
" I believe that the present leaders of the Liberal
Party are sincere. Whether they are sincere or not,
we will make them, and we have got the power to do
it ; we will make them toe the line."

On the other hand, it is urged by the supporters of
the Government that the power of Mr. Redmond to
turn out the Government is immaterial to the ques-
tion, since the country by returning the Liberal-
Labour-Nationalist coalition with a substantial
majority at the last election in December 1910 have
given a " mandate " in favour of Home Rule. The
" mandatory " theory is a novelty in British politics ;
and if ever there were a case in which it is impossible
to declare that the Government were returned on
any single issue, it is in the elections of 1910.

To mention only a few of the subjects of con-
troversy, the electors were largely occupied with the
questions of the House of Lords, Free Trade, Land
Taxation, Social Reform, the Disestablishment of the
Welsh Church, the Temperance Question, and Educa-
tion. In the opinion of Mr. Asquith himself —
expressed in his own election address — the appeal to
the electors was referred to as being " almost narrowed
down to a single issue — the question of the Veto of
the House of Lords." Nor is it any exaggeration to
say that, so far as the members of the Cabinet were
concerned, there was a manifest reluctance throughout
the election to mention the Home Rule Question.

It was not until it was clear from the number of
members already elected that Mr. Asquith would be

6 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

again dependent upon the votes of the Irish
Nationalist Party in the House of Commons, that he
gave a definite declaration of his intention to intro-
duce a Home Rule Bill in the present Parliament.
His earlier utterances at Hull at the opening of the
campaign, and the oft-quoted speech at the Albert
Hall, London, on December 10th, 1909, were vague
and shadowy, and did not commit him to any definite
course. It was not until 441 out of the 670 members
of the House of Commons had been returned, in-
cluding all the borough constituencies, that the country
was permitted to know Mr. Asquith's intentions, and
then only in the form of an answer to the dogged
enquiries of a Scotch questioner in his own constituency
on December 7th, 1910.

He was asked : " Is it the case that if the Liberal
Party are returned on this occasion they intend to
grant Ireland a measure of Home Rule ? " and
replied : " It is." *

At a meeting on the following day, Mr. Asquith
refused further information, saying : " We cannot,
and we ought not, to attempt to give any details of
the Home Rule Bill."

In face of the deliberate plan of the Government
to keep the Home Rule question as far as possible
in the background, and having regard to the various
other issues pressed upon the attention of the electors,
it is impossible to maintain that the Home Rule
question was definitely before the country at the last
election.

After the election at the end of 1910, Mr. Redmond

1 Scotsman, December 8th, 1910.

Photo by Elliott & Fry

THE RIGHT HON. HERBERT ASQUITH, K.C., M.P
Prime Minister.

INTRODUCTORY 7

being then in a position to dictate terms to the Govern-
ment, the only obstacle he had to fear was that a
considerable section of the Liberal Party might resent
the jettisoning of the issues upon which they had
mainly been elected to such an extent as to face
another election rather than submit to a Home Rule
Bill which is repugnant to many of them. The
manipulation of the legislative programme has accord-
ingly been adroit. Mr. Lloyd George and his fol-
lowers were allowed to use the remainder of 1911
— after the passage of the Parliament Act — for rushing
through the Bill for the compulsory insurance of the
working classes against sickness. Last session the
Welsh contingent were appeased by the introduction
of a Bill for the disestablishment and disendowment
of the Church in Wales which has been passed through
the House of Commons concurrently with the Home
Rule Bill ; and the value of the bargain is shown by
the fact that the Welsh Bih1 was on several occasions
saved by the votes of Mr. Redmond and his followers.
This system of " log-rolling " is new in this country,
and is peculiarly detestable because it enables the
proposals of a minority to be passed into law by the
aid of the votes of another minority who have no real
interest in the matter, but who are willing to exchange
their votes for assistance on the subject in which they
themselves are interested, although the country as a
whole may be indifferent to or even bitterly opposed
to both sets of proposals.

In the present case, for instance, the Unionist Party
is numerically the strongest in the House of Commons ;
but the Liberal Government is able to maintain itself

8 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

in power by appealing in turn to the self-interests of
each of the groups which go to form its majority.

1 STATE OF PARTIES IN THE BRITISH HOUSE OF

COMMONS, JANUARY, 1913.
Unionists .. ..281
Liberals .. ..264

XT«*-« r *. QA (Official Nationalist party .. 76

Nationalists .. 84 | Independent Natio £alis£s . . 8

Labour-Socialist .. 41

Before proceeding to examine the Home Rule
problem on its merits it is desirable to emphasise the
exact constitutional position in regard to the present
Home Rule Bill. That Bill has now passed the House
of Commons and has been rejected by the House of
Lords. Under the terms of the Parliament Act, 1911,
any Bill which has been passed by the House of Com-
mons three times in three successive sessions extending
over a period of not less than two years becomes law
upon receiving the Royal Assent, and without the
concurrence of the House of Lords.

The Home Rule Bill has been rejected once by the
House of Lords ; there is no reason to suppose that
it will meet with a different fate if it is presented to
them again.

The two years above referred to date from the
second reading 2 of the Bill (when presented for the
first time to the House of Commons) to the third
reading of the Bill (when presented for the third and
last time to the House of Commons).

1 The difference in the figures from those given on an earlier page
is due to bye-elections between 1911 and 1913.

a The phrase " second reading " should not be confused with the
introduction of a Bill for the second time in the House of Commons
under the Parliament Act. Under our present system of legislation
every Bill is read a first, second, and third time in both Houses of
Parliament.

INTRODUCTORY 9

The second reading of the Home Rule Bill (1) took
place on May 9th, 1912 ; so that it cannot be passed
into law, without the consent of the House of Lords,
under the automatic operation of the Parliament Act,
until May 9th, 1914.

CHAPTER II

THE CONDITION OF IRELAND TO-DAY

IRELAND is represented to-day in the House of Com-
mons by 103 members — a number far larger than is
justified by the existing population. The proper
proportion is sixty-six.

Yet the argument in support of the demand for
Home Rule proceeds on the assumption that Ireland
suffers substantial injustice and unfair treatment by
being compelled to submit to the Government of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Not only is there no foundation for the statement,
since Ireland is subject to the same system of laws as
England and her people stand on a footing of equality
with the rest of the inhabitants of the United Kingdom,
but during the last twenty years, whenever there has
been any discrimination, it has always been in favour
of Ireland. The task of solving the problem of Irish
discontent, which has been the especial care of suc-
cessive Unionist Ministries, has resulted in a number
of reforms relating exclusively to Ireland. This
policy has been amply justified by results.

The most effective argument advanced by the
advocates of Home Rule at the time of the Home
Rule Bills of 1886 and 1893 has been swept away by
the marked improvement in the social and economic
position of Ireland to-day.

There is perhaps no more eloquent witness of the
change which has come over Ireland than Mr. Redmond
himself.

10

CONDITION OF IRELAND TO-DAY 11

Speaking at Detroit, U.S.A., on October 26th, 1910,
he said —

" I desire to put before you in plain businesslike
language what the last ten years has accomplished for
Ireland. . . . Over one half of Ireland the tillers of
the soil are absolute owners. ... In a few short
years the whole of the land of Ireland will be free
once and for ever of landlordism. ... A few short
years, and the land question in Ireland — that fruitful
source of poverty, starvation, misery, bloodshed, and
crime — will have absolutely passed away. And with
the passing away of that system will have passed the
chief cause which kept the Irish people, not only
poverty-stricken, but enslaved. . . . There is a class
of people in Ireland »perhaps more deserving of the
sympathy and respect of the Irish race even than the
tenant farmers. I mean the agricultural labourers.

. . . They still continue living in those miserable
mud hovels which have been the reproach of Ireland.

. . . Well, thank God, in the last two years we
have put an end to that reproach. Within the last
six years we have obtained 30,000,000 dollars from the
British Exchequer to remove these wretched hovels
and to erect in their places decent, sanitary habita-
tions for the labourers of Ireland. ... No settle-
ment of the land question would be accepted by
Ireland which did not include a restoration of these
people (the evicted tenants) to their own homes.
Three thousand of these families have within the last
few years been restored to their homes — not merely
restored to their homes, but their houses that had
been broken down by the crowbar brigade have been

12 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

rebuilt for them by money obtained not as a loan,
but as a free grant from the British Exchequer.
Their farms have been restored, they have been given
new farm implements, and they have gone back to
the land from which they were evicted twenty years
ago, not as tenants, but as absolute owners of the
soil. . . . To-day the school-houses are decent,
sanitary buildings, heated and cleaned by money
which we obtained for that purpose from the British
Exchequer. The teachers, although they are not paid
as much as the teachers in England, still have had
their position enormously improved. . . . The
secondary schools in Ireland — what would be called,
I think, here your high schools — are to-day, for the
first time, being well supported. Large monetary
assistance is being given to them. And, greatest
perhaps of all for the first time for centuries the
blessings of facilities for higher education have been
extended to the masses of the Irish people. . . .
There was created in Ireland for the benefit of the
great majority of people of that great country a great
Free National University." 1

The situation is well summarised by Mr. T. P. Gill,
some years ago Nationalist Member for South Louth,
and now Secretary of the Department of Agriculture
and Technical Instruction under the present Liberal
Government. Speaking at Belfast on August 7th,
1911, he said—

" Ireland was now on the up-grade, and this move-
ment upward was so significant, was fed from so many
springs of national life and wealth, the awakening so

1 Irish World (American), November 5th, 1910.

CONDITION OF IRELAND TO-DAY 13

stirred over the whole frame of the country — through
her agriculture, industries, education, social endeavour,
her moral and intellectual state — that she was to-day
not only a progressive nation, but within her own
limits amongst the most rapidly and soundly
progressive nations in the world."

It is unnecessary to multiply evidence of this
description, nor indeed is the fact disputed.

The causes of the improvement of Ireland are
admitted even by the opponents of the Union to be
due to the policy and energy of the Unionist Party.

Lord MacDonnell, a keen advocate of Home Rule,
who held the post of Under-Secretary to the Lord
Lieutenant under the Liberal Government from 1906
to 1908, gives full credit to the Unionist Party for the
dawn of Irish regeneration. Speaking at a meeting
at the Bankers' Institute in Dublin on November 29th,
1911, he said—

" Within the last eight years he had seen marvellous
improvement in the state of Ireland. He had seen
confidence grow up. Men looked them in the face —
men no longer afraid of the future. He put that down
not to taxation on this or on that — he put it down to
the Land Purchase Act, the first great remedial
measure that had been introduced. He himself was
a Liberal ; but counting the measures that had been
introduced into Ireland for the last twenty years, the
great majority had been introduced by the Con-
servative Party, and they would give them credit for
that. From Mr. Balfour's time in 1891 up to the
present day there had been a succession of great things.
Consequently they must admit that, however Ireland

14 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

might have suffered in the past, the day of her
regeneration had already dawned." 1

The prosperity of Ireland, which is admitted by all
parties, is as remarkable as it has been rapid. Judged
by any of the standards from which it is possible to
test the progress of a nation, the rapid advancement
of Ireland along the path of progress is a matter
beyond dispute.2

The following extract from the report on the Home
Rule Bill of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce gives
statistics from the official returns of Irish trade —

"It is indisputable that under the security of the
Imperial Parliament the prosperity of Ireland has
shown a great and growing advance. The following
figures, relating only to the period which has elapsed
since the defeat of the last Home Rule Bill, prove this
conclusively. The total import and export trade at
Irish ports in 1904 — the earliest year for which official
returns are available — was estimated at £103,790,799,
and in 1910 at £130,888,732 sterling. Deposits and
Cash Balances in Joint Stock Banks in Ireland on the
30th June, 1893, amounted to £34,637,000, as com-
pared with £56,011,000 in 1911, being an increase of
£21,374,000. The figures in relation to Post Office
Savings Banks for the same years are £4,155,000 and
£12,253,000 respectively; and for Trustees' Savings
Banks, £1,856,000 and £2,557,000 respectively. The

1 Freeman's Journal, November 30th, 1911.

2 For a description of the means by which this had been achieved,
see Chapter VII on Unionist Constructive Policy. It is the declared
intention of the leaders of the Unionist party, when they are returned
to power, to continue the policy of Irish development on the lines
which have proved so successful in the past.

CONDITION OF IRELAND TO-DAY 15

gross receipts of Irish Railways in 1893 amounted to
£3,181,043, and in 1910 to £4,474,016."

This improvement is almost entirely due to the
legislative reforms introduced by the Imperial Parlia-
ment under the guidance of the Unionist Government
between 1887 and 1891 and 1895 and 1906. l That
this increased prosperity has been brought about
under the Union by the legislation of the Imperial
Parliament and by the assistance of Imperial credit
is the strongest possible argument, so far as the
interests of Ireland are concerned, in favour of the
Union, and shifts on to the advocates of Home Rule
the burden of proving that there is any advantage to
be gained for Ireland by setting up a Parliament at
Dublin.

Nor is it much consolation to the Irish farmer or
the Irish manufacturer to read Mr. Redmond's own
words : " What do we care for material reforms in
Ireland. They may fill the stomachs of the Irish
people. That will not satisfy their spirits. I say
that we have preferred in the past rags and the spirit
of liberty rather than be the sleekest slave that ever
was fed at the hands of the Conqueror." 2

Throughout the prolonged controversy on the Home
Rule question not a single argument has been advanced
to show what benefit Ireland is to gain by giving up
her place in the Union and by voluntarily depriving
herself of the assistance of Imperial credit and the
benefits of the Imperial partnership. And, indeed,
it is a matter for comment that throughout the long

1 See Chapter VII.

* Speech at Tipperary, November 13th, 1910.

3— (2333)

16 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

course of years during which the various Home Rule
proposals have been urged by Mr. Redmond and his
predecessors, in no single instance has there been a
bold and consistent declaration of the reforms which
an Irish Parliament would be able to effect and which
the Imperial Parliament has been unable or unwilling
to grant. Although vast sums have been expended
in recent years for the development of Irish resources
with the result already described, the Imperial Parlia-
ment, with all the resources at its disposal, has not
yet been able to find sufficient money for all the
reforms which a beneficent legislature would like to
see carried out ; and it would be impossible for an
Irish Parliament, with its resources limited to the
pockets of the Irish taxpayer, to provide for any
further schemes of social improvement.

This has in fact been recognised by the present
Government, for in the Home Rule Bill of last session
the control, and therewith of course the cost, of all
the schemes of development and social reform which
have been extended to Ireland in recent years have
been reserved to the Imperial Parliament. It was
admitted by the speakers on behalf of the Govern-
ment that the Irish Parliament would be unable to
bear the increasing cost of the new schemes of
National Insurance, Labour Exchanges, and Land
Purchase, and these matters have accordingly been
reserved to the Imperial Parliament.1

Although the present Government may be willing
to bear the cost of the expensive schemes of reform

1 See the speeches of the Prime Minister and the Postmaster-
General on the introduction of the Home Rule Bill, 1912.

CONDITION OF IRELAND TO-DAY 17

of their own creation — all future developments would
be in the hands of the Irish Parliament : all additional
expenditure would henceforward have to come from
the pockets of the Irish taxpayer. The wealth of the
richer partner in the partnership of the United King-
dom would no longer be available for the development
of the latent resources of Irish industry.

It is a commonplace grievance among Irish
Nationalist speakers and writers that Ireland is at
the present day over-taxed. Whether this allegation
be true or not, it is impossible to see from what source
t \e Irish Parliament would be able to find the money
from which to finance any further schemes of
development and reform.

It has been urged in a general way, but without
any attempt at definition, that an Irish Parliament
would be able to effect economies in administration ;
but it is remarkable that no one with any acquaint-
ance of the details of Irish Government has been able
to indicate the means by which substantial economies
can be effected with due regard to the maintenance
of efficiency.

Indeed, the remarkable admission has been made
by an authority well versed in the working of the
Irish Government that economy under Home Rule
is impossible.

Lord MacDonnell, a Liberal in politics and a Home
Ruler, writing in the Nineteenth Century Review for
January, 1912, says —

" But knowing something of the directions in which
savings can be made, I desire emphatically to say
that, unless all expenditure on social betterment is

18 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

abandoned and Irish administrative standards are
reduced below the English and Scotch level, no such
economies can be effected as would suffice to meet
from the Irish ' true ' revenue the charges of Irish
Government and the outlay which Ireland's neglected
condition calls for."

Indeed, Mr. Redmond's present attitude on the
point is an interesting study in the evolution of
political arguments under the pressure of obvious
facts. Speaking at Drumkeesin on October 27th, 1907,
he said : "If Ireland were self -governed, she could
easily be governed ... at one-half of the present
expenditure."

Contrast his attitude after the introduction of the
Bill. In the House of Commons,1 with the prospect
of having to act up to his assurances in the near
future, he tells a different story : " Probably a genera-
tion will pass away before any very substantial
economies can be made in the government of Ireland."

To sum up the arguments contained in this chapter,
Home Rule can offer no advantage to Ireland.
Ireland is doing remarkably well under the Union ;
and, as will be shown in the next chapter, would
advance at an even greater rate were she not still
under the bane of the professional politicians whose
genius for agitation and intrigue is the curse of the
country whose interests he professes to serve.

To hand over the destinies of Ireland to the uncon-
trolled domination of the professional agitator in a
Parliament at Dublin would involve the ruin of Irish
credit and the abrupt termination of Irish prosperity.

1 Official Debates, November 25th, 1912.

Photo by Elliott &• Fry

MR. JOHN REDMOND, M.P.
Leader of the Irish Nationalist Party.

CHAPTER III

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION

HAVING considered the present condition of Ireland,
the next step is to determine the nature of the change
demanded by those who advocate " Home Rule " and
the prospects of good government if the demand were
complied with.

The phrase " Home Rule " has been used indis-
criminately to indicate a variety of forms of govern-
ment, from the conversion of Ireland into a foreign
nation or the grant of the practical independence of
Canada or Australia, to the restricted powers of local
government enjoyed by the administrative councils
of the provinces of the Union of South Africa. The
phrase has, in fact, been adapted to suit the views of
the individual writer or speaker or the sentiments of
the audience addressed.

When we examine the demands of the official
Nationalist Party, we are met by the additional per-
plexing problem that not only have they varied at
different times and according to the views of different
members of the party, but the leaders of the party
have during the same period put forward entirely
dissimilar propositions varying according to the
audiences they are addressing in England or Ireland,
in Canada, or the United States of America.

This is best illustrated by actual examples (see pp.
20 and 21) which have been selected from compara-
tively recent speeches at a time when the necessity

19

20 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

AMERICAN AND IRISH
SPEECHES

Mr. J. Redmond, M.P., at
the Convention held at Buf-
falo, U.S.A., September 27th,
1910—

" Without freedom, all
these great concessions are
practically valueless, or at
any rate, such value as they
possess is to be found in the
fact that they strengthen the
arm of the Irish people, and
push on to the great goal of
National Independence." —
Freeman's Journal, October
13th, 1910.

Mr. J. Redmond, M.P., at
Dublin, December 15th,
1909—

" We have before us to-day
the best chance which Ireland
has ever had for the last
century, of tearing up and
trampling under foot that
infamous Act of Union." —
Freeman's Journal, December
16th, 1909.

Mr. J. Redmond, M.P., at
the mass meeting held at
Buffalo in the evening of
September 27th, 1910 —

" I have come here to-day
to America to ask you to give
us your aid in a supreme and,
I believe, a final effort to
dethrone once and for all the
English Government of our
country." — Freeman's Jour-
nal, October 13th, 1910.

ENGLISH AND SCOTCH
SPEECHES

Mr. J. Redmond, M.P., at
Glasgow, 12th October,
1911—

" All that the Irish people
are asking for is legislative
and executive control of
purely Irish affairs, subject
to the unimpaired supremacy
of the Imperial Parliament."
— Freeman's Journal, October
13th, 1911.

Mr. J. Redmond, M.P., at
Swindon, October 9th, 1911 —

" Mark you, we are not
asking for the repeal of this
Union. We are asking only
that you shall give to Ireland
a subordinate Parliament,
that is, a Parliament similar
to the twenty-eight subordi-
nate Parliaments which al-
ready exist in different por-
tions of the British Empire."
— Bath and Wilts Chronicle,
October 10th, 1911.

Mr. J. Redmond, M.P. —

" We are only asking for
the management of our own
local affairs by an Executive
Government which will be
responsible to the public
opinion of Ireland. We accept
your supremacy and we not
merely accept it, but we
invite you if anyone has any
doubt upon the question to
make in the terms of your

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION

21

AMERICAN AND IRISH
SPEECHES

Mr. J. Redmond, M.P., at
a Convention of the United
Irish League, held in New
York, on August 31st, 1904,
said —

" My views are moderate
views. But if it were in my
power to-morrow by any
honourable means, to abso-
lutely emancipate Ireland,
I would do it. I would feel it
my duty to do it. I believe
it would be just as possible for
Ireland to have a prosperous
and free separate existence as
a nation as Holland, Bel-
gium, or Switzerland, or other
small nationalities. And if it
were in the power of any man
to bring that result about
to-morrow by honourable and
brave means, he would be
indeed a coward and a traitor
to the traditions of his race
did he not do so."

Mr. Joseph Devlin, M.P.,
the President of the Ancient
Order of Hibernians, and
Mr. Redmond's right-hand
man in the House of Com-
mons, speaking at Philadel-
phia, November 1908 —

" I believe in the separation
of Ireland from England until
Ireland is as free as the air
we breathe."— Irish World,
November 28th, 1908.

ENGLISH AND SCOTCH

SPEECHES

Bill that supremacy as effec-
tive as you like." — Morning
Post, October 11, 1911.

Mr. Redmond at Cleator
Moor —

" Then there is the fear of
separation from England. We
are not asking for separation.
. . . Believe me, as soon as
we get Home Rule, we agita-
tors will settle down. . . .
We will devote all our ener-
gies, all our heart and soul,
to the effort to make the new
Constitution work, to make
it permanent, and make it
lead to the improvement of
our country. Is it not worth
while to take the risk ? I
believe there is no risk." —
Freeman's Journal, October
15th, 1909.

Mr. Joseph Devlin, M.P.,
speaking in the British House
of Commons, May 6th, 1912 —

" Mr. Asquith's name will
live honoured and cherished
in the memory of all those
who see in him the great
instrument under Providence
that will unite England and
Ireland together for all time."

22 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

for propitiating English opinion was daily becoming
more apparent. It is only necessary to go a few
years back to find stronger language used and many
disloyal and separatist speeches by the same men —
Redmond, Dillon, and Devlin.1 For instance, the
following is taken from a speech by Mr. Dillon
in 1900. The reference is to a visit to Dublin of
the late Queen Victoria, whose memory we all
revere —

" The voice of the capital will be with the rest of
Ireland : that we will not tolerate in this old city
that new type of politics which thinks it consistent
with Irish Nationality to cringe and crouch before a
foreign Queen." 2

So much for the leaders. The lesser lights, even at
the present day, are less guarded in their language.
One example will suffice. Mr. Shane Leslie — a pro-
minent member of the Gaelic League, and a candi-
date of the Nationalist Party at the General Election
— in a speech at New York in 1911, said —

" We deliberately and knowingly have set ourselves
— if I may use a great phrase — ' to break the last link '
that lies between Ireland and England." 3

In view of the contradictory utterances by the
official leader of the Nationalist Party, it is not sur-
prising that there is little disposition on the part of
those who have followed the controversy to place
any reliance upon the present assurances of Mr.
Redmond and his colleagues.

1 A collection of these is given in the pamphlet " Convicted,"
published by the Union Defence League, 25 Victoria Street, London.

2 Freeman's Journal, September 3rd, 1900.

3 Gaelic American, November 18th, 1911.

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION 23

The discrepancy between the sentiments expressed
by the leader of the Nationalist party within the short
space of twelve months is so marked, that it is impos-
sible to credit him with a change of opinion within so
short a time. The explanation is indeed more simple
and less creditable.

When addressing audiences comprised of Irish-
Americans, the Nationalist Members of Parliament
have to appeal to the sentiments of men who have
been educated in the opinions of Patrick Ford, the
proprietor of the Irish World, the organ of the Home
Rule party in America, which has undertaken the
collection of vast sums of money for the furtherance
of the campaign in Ireland. The doctrines advocated
by Ford are hatred of England and all that is English.
It would be wearisome to multiply quotation, but the
following extract from an article in the Irish World
of September 21st, 1907, 1 is typical of the policy of
the paper and the views of its readers —

" There are Irishmen who believe that only by
physical force, only by cannons and guns and spears,
can the freedom of Ireland be won. Let them hold
to their belief ; let them do all they can to carry their
policy into effect. No good Irishman has, or ought
to have, a word to say against them. On the contrary,
all good Irishmen, every Irishman ' worth his salt,'

1 Compare the following resolution passed at the Convention of
the Ancient Order of Hibernians at Chicago in July, 1912. " Yet we
know that nothing less than absolute independence can ever be
considered by our race at home or abroad as a final settlement of
the Irish Question. The memory of Tone and Emmet will ever
be fondly revered, and the principles for which they died will not be
abandoned by Irish Nationalists, not even after the object they died
to accomplish is attained." — Gaelic American, July 27th, 1912.

24 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

every Irishman with true Irish blood in his veins,
would be delighted to see England and her infamous
rule in Ireland faced and beaten in the field, and
crushed and destroyed for ever by Irish cannons and
guns and spears, or by the armed might of Irishmen
acting in co-operation with any other or all other
military powers or forces on the face of the earth.
This is Irish sentiment, Irish instinct, and, therefore,
no good Irishman has a word to say against the
' physical force ' principle. None of the leaders of
the Parliamentary movement has a word to say
against it, or ever does say a word against it or against
the men or organisation that believe in it as the only
right policy."

Mr. Redmond, when speaking in America, accord-
ingly squares his views to the opinions of his audience.
He is obliged to do so, or the dollars would cease to
flow from the pockets of the Irish-American artisan
to the treasure chest of the Nationalist Party.

Speeches made to English or Canadian audiences,
on the other hand, are pitched in a patriotic key —
witness the Imperial fervour of Mr. T. P. O'Connor's
recent campaign in Canada, or that of Mr. W.
Redmond, the brother of John Redmond, in Australia.
The reason is simple. No such audience would listen
to anything tinged with disloyalty or advocating an
independent Ireland. We must admire the astuteness
of the policy while we deplore its dishonesty.

On the other hand, as it is impossible to gauge the
real sentiments of Nationalist politicians from their
public utterances, their actions in the past are the only
criterion from which we can judge the value of their

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION 25

present promises. Unfortunately for their cause,
their record is not a clean one.

A consideration of the campaign of violence and
intimidation which has been waged in Ireland during
the last six years — in many cases with the direct
instigation of members of the Nationalist Party —
belies the present assurance that Mr. Redmond and
his colleagues are both able and willing to guarantee
peace, order, and good government under a Home
Rule Parliament. At no time has Mr. Redmond
shown a disposition to go down to the disturbed
districts and denounce the disgraceful incidents which
mar the fair fame of Ireland, or to use the great
authority he must possess in the counsels of the
United Irish League 1 to secure the cessation of the
outrages complained of.

On the other hand, it is not disputed that many
of the acts of violence referred to in the following
pages were deliberately planned with the consent and
encouragement of the leaders of the Nationalist
Party.

The growing prosperity of Ireland, coupled with the
strong central government under the Unionist adminis-
tration of Lord Salisbury and Mr. Balfour, produced
a marked decrease in the organised crimes of violence
which had disgraced Ireland in the last century. The
fearless and impartial administration of the law

1 The United Irish League is the direct descendant of the Land
League of the Fenian period. In every instance with the Ancient
Order of Hibernians it dictates the policy of the Nationalist party
in the House of Commons. Mr. John Redmond, M.P., the Leader
of the Nationalist party, is President of the League ; Mr. Devlin,
M.P., its Secretary. Mr. Dillon, M.P., is a prominent member of
the Committee.

26 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

produced a change in the condition of the country, and
on the accession of the Liberal Government to office
in 1906, Ireland was in a more peaceful and contented
condition than she had enjoyed for many years.

Unfortunately the elements of discord in the shape
of the political agitators — the perennial curse of
Ireland — were only waiting for the opportunity to
re-kindle the embers of discontent and violent political
outrage. So long as proper precautions were taken
for the due observance of the law, punishment followed
swiftly upon the organised crimes of the lawless
section of the community : but the weakening of the
central control at Westminster which accompanied
the short-sighted policy of the Liberal ministry pro-
duced a swift and sudden change. Those in authority
were either unable or unwilling to proceed against the
political originators of the organised campaign of
crime and outrage ; and Ireland was again left to the
mercies of the professional agitators and the secret
societies, the United Irish League, and the Ancient
Order of Hibernians.

Crime was rife, criminals went unconvicted, wit-
nesses were afraid to give evidence, and juries dared
not convict. It is difficult to condense the mass of
evidence which demonstrates the appalling condition
of the country owing to the licence given to the dis-
orderly elements of the community. The following
facts, however, afford ample testimony that these
statements are no exaggeration.

From a return published in the House of Commons
on April 15th, 1912, it is shown that the number of
agrarian outrages during the five years of Liberal

Photo by EL.iott & Fi-y

THE RIGHT HON. AUGUSTINE BIRRELL, K.C., M.P.

Chief Secretary for Ireland under the present
Liberal Administration.

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION 27

administration (1907-11) is almost double the number
which occurred during the preceding five years.

The exact figures are 1,160 cases under the Unionist
administration from 1902-6 and 2,119 cases under the
Liberal administration from 1907-1 1.1

It is unfortunately a matter beyond dispute that
whenever a Liberal Government has been in power,
owing to the weakness of the central authority, crime
and violence have broken out in Ireland. The same
conditions of lawlessness in Ireland, encouraged by
the Nationalist Party, existed in the days of Mr.
Gladstone as exist to-day under Mr. Asquith. In
each case the agitators of the Nationalist Party have
pursued the policy of extracting concessions by appeals
to violence ; and when the Nationalist Members of
Parliament openly encourage intimidation and dis-
order, it is not surprising that their irresponsible and
uneducated followers have had recourse to serious and
violent crimes.

Since the Liberal Government allowed the Peace
Preservation Act to expire in 1906 and declined to
renew it, there have been in Ireland —

807 shooting and bomb outrages, resulting in

31 people killed, 196 people wounded, 329 people

arrested, 137 persons convicted.2

The small proportion of convictions is a clear
indication of the incapacity of the authorities to
secure the detection and punishment of the criminals
owing to the intimidation of juries and witnesses.

This view is supported by the remarks of the Lord

1 Parl. Debates, April 15th, 1912, column 156-7.

2 House of Commons Paper, No. 120, of 1912.

28 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

Chief Justice of Ireland at the Clare Assizes in March,
1912 : " In the districts that he had referred to there
was grievous intimidation and reluctance to assist the
authorities, which resulted from intimidation, and that
was a very serious thing. Some people said, ' Oh, the
Clare Assizes ! See the few cases ; remarkable proof
of the crimelessness of the county/ But it was no
proof at all — in fact, it was the worst sign of the
county, because it showed so much demoralisation
and intimidation that the people were afraid to come
forward to give evidence. Instead of its being an
indication that there was no crime in the county, it
showed that there was not only, crime, but an
aggravation of the position by terrorism." 1

It should be noted that, almost without exception,
these violent agrarian crimes take place in the country
districts and the small agricultural towns of the West
of Ireland, and should not be attributed to the ordi-
nary classes of crime which are inevitable in all large
cities all over the world. It is impossible to imagine
such a state of things existing in any agricultural
district in England.

From figures published in the House of Commons,
it appears that the number of persons boycotted in
Ireland increased from January, 1907, to January,
1912, by 74 per cent., the exact figures being 216 and
366 respectively 2 ; while the number of persons
receiving special police protection in Ireland increased
by 80 per cent, in the same period.

The abominable crime of boycotting is the direct

1 Cork Examiner, March 4th, 1912.

2 Part. Debates, February 26th, 1912, cols. 1135-6 and 1137-8.

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION 29

result of the teaching of the agitators of the Nationalist
Party and the United Irish League. For instance,
D. Sheehy, Nationalist M.P. for Meath, at a meeting
of the United Irish League at Kent's town, Co. Meath,
on September 28th, 1908, said—

" To give him a full, strong measure of boycotting,
deep and wide, that is what I would ask the people
to do. Deal not with him, speak not with him,
associate not with him. If he goes to buy, let him
find people who will sell to him, but let it not be you.
When he goes to sell, let no man buy from him." . . . *

The official members of the Nationalist Party are
generaUy careful to keep in the background, and leave
the direct incitement to violence and intimidation to
the local officials of the United Irish League and the
Ancient Order of Hibernians. But the direct
encouragement of criminal outrage and disorder by
Nationalist Members of Parliament has been clearly
demonstrated in the case of " cattle-driving " — a
modern form of agrarian outrage, of which Mr.
Ginnell, the Nationalist M.P. for North-West Meath,
claims to be the inventor.

In October, 1906, an extensive campaign was
inaugurated to break up the pasture lands of the
large farms by inciting the disorderly elements in the
agricultural districts to assemble and drive off the
cattle and scatter them many miles from the farms.
This disgraceful system, involving losses of thousands
of pounds upon the unfortunate farmers, and in many
cases inflicting terrible sufferings upon the cattle —
beaten, driven, and maimed by the insensate mobs of

1 Irish Times, September 28th, 1908.

30 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

peasants — has been the deliberate work of the agita-
tors of the Nationalist Party. The fact is, indeed,
freely admitted on all sides. It would be possible to
fill a volume with extracts from inflammatory speeches
by members of the Nationalist Party.

The following instances suffice to show how little
regard the members of the Nationalist Party have for
the " peace, order, and good government of Ireland " l :

Mr. Ginnell, M.P., at Mullingar on October 14th,
1906, said—

" The ranches should be broken up not only in
Westmeath, but throughout all Ireland ; . . . He
advised them to leave the ranches unfenced, unused
and unusable, unstocked and uncut : cursed by God,
cursed by the people of Ireland." 2

Mr. W. H. K. Redmond, M.P., brother of John
Redmond, in Clare, on September 21st, 1908, said—

" The work of breaking up the ranches must go on.
. . . He never advised a man to do what he was
not prepared to do himself. . . ." 3

Mr. J. Fitzgibbon, a prominent member of the
United Irish League, and a Trustee of the Irish
Parliamentary Fund, at Roscommon, May 31st, 1909 :

" In driving the cattle off the grass land, they had
hit upon a very successful weapon for bringing home
to the Government their determination to have the
land."

The terrible state into which the country was
thrown by the organised conspiracy of the Nationalist

1 The words of the present Home Rule Bill which define the
purpose of the Irish Parliament.

2 Freeman's Journal, October 19th, 1906.

8 Freeman's Journal, September 22nd, 1908.

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION 31

Party and their supporters is sufficiently indicated in
the remarks of the Irish judges. So far back as
March 4th, 1907, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, in
his charge to the Grand Jury at the Clare Assizes,
said —

" He regretted very much that it was not his pleasing
privilege to congratulate them on the condition of the
county. He was afraid that many parts of the county
were in a demoralised and lawless condition."

" In a shire in England, if it was found necessary,
either by special protection, or protection by patrol,
to protect from risk of outrage thirty persons, what
would be thought." l

At the Leitrim Assizes on the previous day, Mr.
Justice Kenny, after alluding to several cases of
particularly gross intimidation, concluded with the
warning which all who understand the operations of
the League will fully appreciate —

" In these latter cases, I regret to say, no one has
been made amenable ; and when there is such a state
of things it justifies the observation made by the
learned Judge who presided at last Connaught Winter
Assizes, who said that when the chain of terrorism
was complete, no witness would give evidence and no
jury would convict." 2

Similarly, in the following year, at the Longford
Quarter Sessions on January 20th, 1908, Judge Curran
said —

" I deem it my duty to call your attention and that

1 Irish Times, March 5th, 1907, and Dublin Daily Express, March
5th, 1907.

2 Dublin Daily Express, March 5th, 1907.
4— (2333)

32 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

of the public to the terrible state in which I find some
portions of your county at the present moment. I
refer now to the open, persistent, and long-continued
conspiracy against certain individuals who refused to
be frightened by mob violence. In October last, when
addressing the Grand Jury, I referred to the same
state of affairs, in the vain hope that some steps
would be taken by the authorities to put an end to
this persecution. ... I find to-day that, during all
these three months, from October to January, the
boycotting and persecution has gone on unchecked.
I see the laws under which we live are flouted and
trampled underfoot and mob law lives triumphant.
. . . Experience tells me that boycotting, long con-
tinued and persisted in, and as persistently resisted,
has invariably led to serious crime and outrage, and
even murder. . . . Lei us hope that even at the
eleventh hour the authorities will step in and extend
to these persecuted people, not mercy, but common
justice, and the protection to which they are entitled
at the hands of the law. . . ." *

In Sligo, on March 7th, 1908, Mr. Justice Wright
pointed out the true cause of the disorder —

" The only law respected or, at least, not respected,
but the only law feared and obeyed was the law, not
of the land, but of the United Irish League. . . ."

The following extract from the address of Mr.
Justice Kenny to the Grand Jury at the Connaught
Winter Assizes, 1912, at Limerick, is the latest avail-
able. It would be possible to give extracts of a

1 Irish Times, January 21st, 1908.

2 Irish Independent, March 9th, 1908.

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION 33

similar character from nearly every circuit of the
judges — outside Ulster — during the past five years —

" The County of Limerick was stated to be in a
peaceful state, but he would gather from the reports
before him that such peace was only superficial since
the July Assizes. . . . With regard to Roscommon
and Galway, although he was informed that there was
a slight improvement in portions of the latter county,
the condition of things seemed to be still deplorable.
In Roscommon there was a large increase of serious
crime. . . . His Lordship regretted to say that in
ah1 the counties where that most cowardly form of
intimidation (i.e., shooting into dwelling-houses) had
been exercised, the exertions of the police had been
rendered ineffectual in making anyone amenable." 1

The disastrous effect of this campaign upon the
prosperity of Ireland is well indicated by Mr. McElroy,
Resident Magistrate, at a trial of cattle-drivers at
Ennis on April 10th, 1912, who pointed out that
" the County of Clare was paying about £10,000 a
year for crime (i.e., for extra police and claims for
malicious injuries out of the county rates).

The lamentable record of the Nationalist Party
demonstrates that appeals to violence are the recog-
nised stock-in-trade of the professional politician in
the South and West of Ireland. The same methods
of violence and intimidation are employed, whether
the attack is directed against the policy of the Imperial
Government or against a section of the Irish National-
ists who are in disagreement with the main body of
the party. This is instanced in the disgraceful attack

1 Cork Examiner, December 4th, 1912.

34 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

upon the Independent Nationalists (Mr. William
O'Brien and his friends), who seceded from the party
owing to a divergence of views as to the method to
be adopted in carrying out the Home Rule campaign.
For instance, at the election in Louth in 1910 — when
Mr. T. Healy was the Independent Nationalist candi-
date— the violence and intimidation resorted to by
the supporters of the successful official Nationalist
candidate resulted in an election petition and enquiry,
with the consequence that the Nationalist Member
was unseated.

The following extract from the report of the pre-
siding Judge (Mr. Justice Gibson) indicates the nature
of the methods adopted —

" The meeting (at Dundalk) was to begin at 8 o'clock,
but when the time came it was found that the hall
was occupied in force by Mr. Hazleton's supporters,
who appear to have thrown some stones at the plat-
form, and not allowed Mr. Healy's speakers to address
the meeting. ... In result, the advertised meeting
was held in a small ante-room, 10 feet square. When
the proceedings terminated, there was great difficulty
in getting Mr. Healy away in safety ; and the police
had to deposit him for the time being in a house of
Mr. Hamill, not far from his hotel, the windows of
which were broken."

When the election came on, Mr. Healy did not
attempt to canvass in Dundalk, but had to confine
his efforts to his committee rooms ; and passing to
and from them, was protected by a force of police
amounting to thirty-five to forty men. " On polling
day, the crowd forced their way into the enclosure

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION 35

outside the booth. Mr. Healy was then assaulted.
After the poll, the windows of eight of Mr. Healy's
supporters were broken. The official Nationalists
even boasted that Mr. Healy had to enter Dundalk
under police protection, and that he had not addressed
a single open-air meeting, except one in the dark."
" In Carlingford," the Judge continues, " the state of
things that I have described is deplorable."

It represents the exclusion of a candidate from his
rights as a citizen. When Mr. Healy arrived at the
polling booth in Louth, which was held in a school-
house, his motor was attacked by a violent crowd.
The schoolhouse was assailed with stones, whilst Mr.
Healy was inside ; and the head constable told him
that it would be dangerous to life and limb if he went,
so he was held up by a fierce mob for two hours.

This report of the Judge demonstrates that recourse
to violence and corruption is inseparable from the
politics of the Nationalist Party, irrespective of the
political sentiments of their opponents.

The moral to be drawn from the comparison of this
painful record with the condition of Ireland under the
preceding Unionist administration is that, given a
sound policy of reform, good government, and the
strict administration of the law, Ireland under the
Union is peaceful and contented ; but so soon as the
central Government is weak enough to allow free
play to the criminal conspiracies of the professional
agitator, Ireland is again plunged into a state of
discord and criminal oppression.

If these things are possible while Ireland is still
under the control of the Imperial Parliament, it is

36 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

appalling to contemplate the handing over of Ireland
to the professional politicians of the Nationalist Party,
freed from the control of the Parliament at West-
minster. It should be borne in mind that the organ-
ised Secret Societies, the United Irish League and the
Ancient Order of Hibernians, who control the selection
of candidates for the Nationalist Party to-day, would
exercise the same power over the selection of candi-
dates for a Parliament at .Dublin, so that the Irish
Parliament would be comprised of the very men who
have organised the campaign of violence and
intimidation referred to above.

The argument used by advocates of Home Rule to
rebut the damning evidence contained in the past
record of the Nationalist Party is that, given self-
government, the Nationalists would become reformed
characters ; that they have promised loyalty, tolera-
tion, and freedom from oppression ; and ought to be
believed.

In fact, the Nationalist Party have deliberately
broken their pledged word in the past, and there is
no reason to suppose that they will be any more
trustworthy in the future. It is difficult to imagine
a more flagrant breach of an honourable undertaking
than is illustrated by the action of the Nationalist
Party in connection with the powers of Local Govern-
ment conferred upon Ireland by the Unionists in 1898.

From a purely legal point of view, since the Local
Government Act, 1898, the system of Local Govern-
ment has been identical with that in England, the
management of local affairs being in the hands of
popularly elected County and Borough Councils, and

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION 37

District Councils — Urban and Rural — with precisely
the same powers as the corresponding authorities in
Great Britain — except in regard to education.

Viewed from a practical standpoint, however, the
working of the system is widely different from that
existing in England — for the history of Local Govern-
ment in Ireland since the passing of the Act of 1898
has been a lamentable record of broken faith on the
part of the Irish Nationalist Party.

At the time of the passing of the Act Mr. John
Redmond was profuse in assurances that the
Unionist minority should receive a fair share of
representation on the local bodies to be set up under
the new Act.

Speaking at Cork on June 13th, 1897, Mr. John
Redmond said —

" On this question of Mr. Balfour's Local Govern-
ment Scheme I want to say one or two serious words.
... If the people use these new powers with
moderation and sobriety, if a spirit of toleration and
freedom guides these local assemblies, if no effort is
made to exclude any class or creed — no matter how
hostile they may have been to the people in the past —
then I believe much good may come from the Local
Government Scheme. . . . Our duty, under these
circumstances, is quite plain : we will accept this
Local Government measure of Mr. Balfour's, and we
will use all our power and influence in Ireland to see
that it is worked in this country in a spirit of freedom,
of toleration, and of justice to all creeds and classes of
our fellow-countrymen." x

1 Irish Independent, June 14th, 1897.

38 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

Again, at Dublin, on September 13th, 1898, Mr.
John Redmond said —

" We desire toleration in the public life of Ireland.
We desire to see the best men selected to all these
public bodies in Ireland ; and we think that to adopt
the policy of excluding from these public bodies every
man who differed from us politically, or religiously,
would be an absolutely suicidal policy for Irish
Nationalists to adopt. For my part, and I think I
speak in the name of the Parnellites of Dublin, for
my part / would be willing to give them, not only in
Dublin, but all through Ireland, a fair — / will say even
a generous — share of representation upon these bodies." 1

Could anything be plainer ? Whether Mr. Redmond
was speaking with his tongue in his cheek and never
intended to act up to his assurances, or whether
circumstances proved too strong for him and he
found himself obliged to bend to the dictates of the
intolerant section of the Party, he alone can answer.

It was, of course, not to be expected that he would
eat his words immediately after the passing of the Act ;
but other members of the Nationalist Party apparently
suffered under no such restraint.

Mr. John Dillon, speaking at Doobeg on December
16th, 1898, said—

" In dealing with the candidates for the County
Council, I say you ought to select honest men, capable
men, and good fighting Nationalists ; and I would put
to every man who comes forward as a candidate, first
of all, the pledge whether he is for the national rights
of Ireland to govern her own affairs, and whether in

1 Irish Independent, September 14th, 1898.

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION 39

the County Council he will support on all occasions
any action that is taken in support of the national
cause."

Similarly at Charlestown, on December 5th, 1898,
Mr. Dillon said —

" I trust that no man will be allowed to go into the
County Council of Mayo, as representative of the
people who is not determined to use all his influence
in that County Council ... to forward the principles
of the United Irish League." x

In 1901, Mr. Dillon was already able to point to
the success which had attended on the advice he gave
three years before. Speaking at Newtownbutler on
October 4th, 1901, he said— •

" One of the great weapons which we have obtained
for you by our work in Parliament is the control of
the District and County Councils. . . . Let it be
known beforehand that no man need come and ask
for your vote unless he has proved himself to be a
friend of the people by joining the United Irish League ;
and not only joining the United Irish League, but
honestly working for it and sticking by its principles ;
and, believe me, if you act in this spirit at the elec-
tions, you will find that you have in them a mighty,
an all-powerful weapon through the League throughout
all Ireland."

Speeches are recorded couched in the same trium-
phant vein by Mr. William O'Brien, M.P., Mr. Conor
O'Kelly, M.P., Mr. William Redmond, M.P., and
various other prominent members of the Party ; but
the crowning insult was to come from Mr. John

1 Freeman's Journal, December 6th, 1898.

40 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

Redmond, the prophet of toleration, who had pro-
fessed his willingness to give a generous share of
representation on the local bodies to those who
differed from him politically and religiously.

Speaking in Cork on July 18th, 1902, after the
municipal elections of 1902, he said —

" We have in the County and District Councils a
weapon, the full force of which I believe is not
thoroughly understood. . . . They form a network of
Nationalist organisations all over Ireland. If the other
organisations are struck (referring to the possible
suppression of the United Irish League), I doubt not
they would be willing to come forward and take their
place, and in their council chambers carry on the
National work."

The resolutions of the United Irish League and of
its branches all over the country testify how loyally
the advice of Mr. Dillon was carried out. So early as
December 18th, 1898, a resolution was passed at a
meeting of the United Irish League at Ballylongford —

" That we pledge ourselves to support no candidate
for the office of county or district councillor who is
not an outspoken Nationalist and a firm supporter of
Home Rule." 1

And again at Boyle, on February 28th, 1899, a
meeting of the League resolved —

" That we will vote for no candidate at the County
or District Elections who is not a member of the
United Irish League and does not pledge himself to its
principles." 2

1 Freeman's Journal, December 19th, 1898.
8 Freeman's Journal, March 1st, 1899

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION 41

It would be tedious to record the number of resolu-
tions that have been passed from that time forward,
but for sheer effrontery the following is worth quoting —

At the Killargue branch of the League in May, 1908,
it was resolved : "At the approaching Local Govern-
ment election, candidates selected by the United Irish
League, and those only, are to receive the entire sup-
port of the voters and non-voters too, in the several
electoral divisions."

To those familiar with the working of the League,
the significance of the veiled threat contained in this
resolution will be apparent.

The word of the League having gone forth that none
but its members were to be elected to the County and
District Councils, there is little more to be said. The
complete success of the conspiracy to shut out
Unionists from a share in the Local Government of
the country is apparent from a return compiled in
1911, from which it appears that, taking the whole
of Ireland outside Ulster, out of 703 County Councillors,
there were only 15 Unionists as against 684 Nationalists.

In Munster there are 225 Nationalist and 2 Unionist
Councillors ; in Leinster there are 12 Unionist, 317
Nationalist, and 4 Indefinite ; in Connaught there is
only 1 Unionist County Councillor against 142
Nationalists.

In 13 out of the 24 County Councils under con-
sideration, there is not a single Unionist County
Councillor.

This is what Mr. Redmond calls " a fair, and even
a generous, share of representation."

Is it to be wondered that the Unionists of Ireland

42 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

refuse to trust in his present professions of loyalty
and devotion to their interests ?

A complete analysis of the political representation
on County Councils is shown below.

POLITICAL REPRESENTATION ON IRISH COUNTY COUNCILS

(Compiled by the Irish Unionist Alliance, 109 Graf ton

Street, Dublin.)
Counties.
ULSTER —
Antrim
Armagh
Cavan
Donegal
Down

Fermanagh . .
Londonderry
Monaghan . .
Tyrone

Total . 115 122 2 10 249

Union-

Nation-

Indefi-

Lib-

Total

ist.

alist.

nite.

eral. I

Members.

. . 20

1

4 .

. 25

21

8 .'

1 .'

30

25 .

25

! 5

26 .

i !

32

. 17

9 .

—

4 .

30

. 15

12 .

—

27

. 18

6 .

24

. 3

23 .

1 .

27

. 16

12 .

—

1

29

Counties.
MUNSTER —

Clare

Cork

Kerry

Limerick

Tipperary (N. Riding)

Tipperary (S. Riding)

Waterford

Total . .

Union- Nation-

ist.

alist.
29
54
28
29
27
32
26

225

Indefi-
nite.

Total
Members.
29
54
28
30
27
32
27

227

LEINSTER —
Carlow
Dublin
Kildare
Kilkenny
King's County
Longford
Louth..
Meath
Queen's County

25
21
26
28
26
23
31
27
29

25
26
28
29
27
24
32
29
29

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION

43

Counties.

Westmeath . .

Wexford

Wicklow

Total . .

CONNAUGHT —

Galway
Leitrim
Mayo

Roscommon . .
Sligo ..

Total . ,

Province.

ULSTER
MUNSTER . .
LEINSTER . .
CONNAUGHT

Union-
ist.
1
1

Nation-
alist.
. 30 ..
. 24
. 27 ..

Indefi-
nite.

1

Total
Members.
.. 31
.. 26
.. 27

12
1

317

31
23
33
29
26

142

333

32
23
33
29
26

143

ANALYSIS

Union-
ist.

Nation-
alist.

Indefi-
nite.

Liberal.

Total.

115

.. 122 ..

2 .

. 10 ..

249

2

. . 225 . .

_

227

12

.. 317 ..

4 '.

—

333

1

. . 142

— .

— . .

143

TOTAL , 130

806

10

952

February, 1911.

Nor does the matter end there. One would have
imagined that the purpose of the United Irish League
was achieved by excluding all but its own members
from the local bodies. In fact, however, throughout
the whole of Ireland, with the exception of Ulster, the
county and district councillors are the obedient tools
of the United Irish League, to whose orders they are
bound to submit.

Not only is membership of the League an essential
qualification for every candidate, but pledges are
frequently extracted from candidates that they will
carry out the orders of the League and will resign
membership at any time if called upon by the League
to do so.

44 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

The following are typical cases —

Drumshanbo Branch (Co. Leitrim) United Irish
League —

" That we condemn the action of the district
Councillors who refused to vote for the Nationalist
Candidate for the medical officership of Rowan Dis-
pensary district. We call on the League to expel
from membership the District Councillors who have
betrayed their trust."1

A flagrant instance of League interference was
recorded at a meeting of the Boyle (No. 1) District
Council on June llth, 1912. At the opening of the
meeting the Clerk announced that the first business
was the election of chairmen for the coming year.
A member rose to propose a candidate, when the
Clerk interposed that he had some correspondence,
and read the following letter —

" Dear Sir, — I am directed by the North Roscommon
Executive of the United Irish League to inform the
members of the Boyle Union that they have unani-
mously selected and recommended the following candi-
dates for the various chairs : For the Boyle No. 1
District Council, Mr. John Keaveney as Chairman, and
Mr. James Sharkey as Vice-Chairman.

" Yours, THOMAS COLEMAN, Hon. Sec''

Upon this, a member made the significant remark :
" There can be no kicking over the traces now " ; and
after an acrimonious discussion by some of the
members who objected to the interference of the
League, the two candidates proposed by the League

1 Roscommon Hey aid, March 30th, 1912.

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION 45

were elected — the chairman by 25 votes to 9 and the
vice-chairman unanimously. *

The above are two of many similar cases which
occurred only last year. They are merely examples
of what has been happening every day in Ireland
during the last fourteen years since the Local Govern-
ment Act was passed. Numerous instances could be
cited from the local Press, but it would be tedious to
record them.2

It may readily be imagined that if such open and
avowed tyranny is publicly recorded and acquiesced
in, the pressure put upon candidates and members by
the League Executive in private makes it impossible
for them to retain that liberty of conscience and
freedom of action which are essential to the effective
working of a democratic system of local government.
No reform, however beneficial, can be achieved if the
League objects. No piece of jobbery or corruption,
however infamous, can be denounced if the League
insists.

The above quite recent illustrations and many
others, for which there is not space within the limits
of this chapter, have been recorded in spite of the
care which is being taken at the present time to mask
the real aims and sentiments of the League, owing to
Mr. Redmond's present policy of professing loyalty
and toleration. The following remarks made at a
local meeting of the United Irish League are signi-
ficant of the duplicity of those taking part in the
movement.

1 Abridged from report in the Roscommon Herald, June 15th, 1912.

2 See Cambray's Irish Affairs, p. 103, et seq.

46 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

At a meeting of the Killala (Co. Mayo) Branch of
the United Irish League, the Chairman (Mr. P. W.
Durkan) — a prominent local Nationalist — gave the
following advice —

" He thought it well to inform the meeting as to
the cautiousness that active members should proceed
with by way of drafting resolutions, etc. There was
not a Nationalist newspaper printed in Ireland that
anything like a strong resolution appeared in but
what was sent to the House of Commons ; and a
certain number of English, Scotch, and Irish Tories
selected specially to look them up and direct the
attention of anti-Home Rulers to the state of Ireland." l

From an English point of view, one of the most
remarkable characteristics of Irish Local Government
is the large amount of time devoted by County and
District Councils to the discussion of political questions
and the passing of political resolutions. Having
regard to the influence of the United Irish League,
such a condition of things is only to be expected. It
is unnecessary to multiply illustrations, but the
following resolution passed at the time of the South
African War demonstrates the degree of political
feeling which is allowed to interrupt the proper
discussion of local matters.

Resolution passed at a meeting of the Mayo County
Council, December 2nd, 1899, Mr. Conor O'Kelly,
M.P., in the chair —

" That we, the members of the Mayo County Council,
congratulate the gallant Boers on their brilliant defeats
of the troops of the pirate Saxon. That we hope that

1 Western People, June 22nd, 1912.

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION 47

a just Providence will strengthen the arms of these
farmer fighters in their brave struggle for their inde-
pendence. And we trust that as Babylon fell, and as
Rome fell, so also may fall the race and nation whose
creed is the creed of greed and whose God is the God
of Mammon."1

At the present time, discussions and resolutions on
the subject of Home Rule and kindred matters are an
everyday occurrence.

The unfortunate results of the intrusion of party
politics on all occasions are nowhere shown more
plainly than in the history of the General Council of
Irish County Councils. That body was constituted
for the same purpose as similar bodies in England and
Scotland, in order to facilitate the exchange of ideas
between County Councils, and to ensure wherever
possible a uniform policy in local Government
throughout Ireland.

The Chairman (Sir T. Esmonde) made an announce-
ment at the time of its establishment to the effect
that the deliberations of the Council would not be
concerned with Party politics, but unfortunately the
party politician — the inevitable Nemesis of Ireland —
decreed otherwise ; and in October, 1904, owing to a
breach of the understanding that political subjects
should not be discussed, the representatives of Ulster
found themselves compelled to withdraw, and since
that date the so-called General Council of Irish County
Councils have been nothing but a body of Nationalist
delegates who meet to discuss and pass resolutions on

1 This resolution was afterwards adopted by twenty-seven Irish
Nationalist Local Councils.
5— (2333)

48 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

Home Rule in all its bearings (e.g., the report of the
Council in April, 1912, on the financial provisions of
the present Home Rule Bill).

It is particularly regrettable that a body of this
kind, which is essentially a consultative body for local
purposes, and should be doing much to bring together
the different parts of the country to a closer union
and understanding, should have been engineered into
a political machine to suit the purposes of the United
Irish League. But where the interests of Nationalist
agitators are concerned, no institution, however
beneficial to the nation, is free from interference.

It is therefore idle to suppose that in the event of
a Parliament being set up at Dublin, the Nationalist
Party would be willing or able to abandon the tactics
which have disgraced Irish politics for the past half
century and which appear to be the only form of
statecraft adaptable to Nationalist ideas.

It is abundantly apparent that the only form of
government which can permanently and successfully
obtain in Ireland is government by the Parliament of
the United Kingdom, with the strong central authority
able to hold the balance impartially and administer
the law fairly and evenly. It has been shown that
with strong government and sound reform, factions
and agitation have been reduced to a minimum.
Given time to allow the development of the full fruits
of Unionist policy, there is little room for doubt that
the Irish people will realise, as they are beginning to
do, who are their real friends and who are the real
enemies of Ireland. The farmers of the now
prosperous West of Ireland are already beginning to

THE NATIONALIST AGITATION 49

understand how they have been duped and tricked
in the past by the agitators of the Nationalist Party.
Many a Western farmer is at heart a Unionist, but
dare not publicly confess it for fear of the League
and the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

In spite of the plausible rhetoric of Mr. Redmond
or the fiery declamations of Mr. Devlin and Mr. Dillon,
the fact stands out clearly that the Nationalist Party
have not made use of the enormous power which they
possess by their votes in the House of Commons to
assist in carrying out a sound and beneficial pro-
gramme of reform. Whatever has been done by the
Unionist Party has been carried out in the face of the
violent obstruction or studied aloofness of the
Nationalist members,1 who oppose every proposal
that is likely to produce peace and prosperity in
Ireland on the ground that it is likely to weaken the
demand for Home Rule.

1 The Right Hon. Gerald Balfour, Chief Secretary for Ireland
from 1895 to 1900, writes in Against Home Rule (1912) : "I should
imagine that there has seldom, if ever, been an important political
party which has exhibited so little constructive ability as the Irish
Parliamentarians. Their own legislative proposals during the last
thirty years have been a negligible quantity, and I think I am justi-
fied in saying that there is not one of the great measures passed by
the Unionist Government since 1886 which has not been either
opposed by the accredited leaders of the party, or, at best, received
with carping and futile, rather than helpful criticism."

CHAPTER IV

ULSTER

" They have rights who dare maintain them "

James Russell Lowell

IN considering the opposition in Ireland to Home
Rule, it is desirable to examine both the number of
those who are opposed to the proposal and the extent
to which they are interested in the prosperity and
well-being of the country. In so far as the counting
of heads is a test of Irish opinion, it is admitted that
there is in Ireland, outside Ulster, a large majority in
favour of Home Rule. On the other hand, the extent
of the opposition is not accurately represented by
the number of Irish Unionist Members who sit in the
House of Commons, nor by the number of votes cast
in favour of Unionist candidates. Owing to the
number of Nationalist Members who are returned to
Parliament unopposed from the South and West of
Ireland, * the Unionists outside Ulster have no oppor-
tunity of recording their votes ; but their number
is neither so small nor are they so scattered as to be
insignificant.

It is, indeed, impossible to arrive at an accurate
estimate of the proportions of the population who are
for and against Home Rule ; but, as a rough and

1 At the last election fifty-three Nationalist members out of
eighty-four were returned unopposed and twenty of the contests
were between the official Nationalist Party and the Independent
Nationalists.

50

Photo by Elliott

l-iy

THE MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRY, K.G.
President of the Ulster Unionist Council.

ULSTER 51

ready test, the religious opinions of the inhabitants
determine the question.
According to the Census of 191 11 there were —

Roman Catholics some 3^ millions

Protestants (of all denominations) . . some 1| millions

It should be borne in mind that this calculation
necessarily errs in favour of the Home Rulers, since
the number of Roman Catholics who are opposed to
Home Rule is far in excess of the comparatively small
number of Protestant Home Rulers.

Roughly speaking, however, it may be assumed
that between one-third and one-fourth of the popula-
tion of Ireland are opposed to the dismemberment of
the United Kingdom.

When we come to examine the quality of the
opposition, we find that almost without exception
the solid interests in the community are ranged against
Home Rule. All those who have contributed most to
the prosperity of the country are filled with dismay at
the prospect of handing over the commercial and
economic interests of Ireland to the control of a
Nationalist Parliament.

Indeed the remarkable admission has been made
by a prominent Nationalist — Professor Kettle — the
father of the Nationalist ex-Member of Parliament of
that name, and at the time he made the statement one
of the treasurers of the United Irish League —

1 Roman Catholics . . 3,238,656

Irish Church .. .. 575,489

Presbyterians .. .. 439,876

Methodists .. .. 61,806

All other Christian denominations 57,718

Jews 5,101

Information refused . . 3,305

52 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

" Let us just quietly examine the composition of
the United Irish League. On its roll of membership
there are no landlords or ex-landlords, few merchants,
fewer Irish manufacturers. There are few of the men
who are managing the business of Ireland in city or
town connected with the League. The bankers who
regulate our finances, the railway or transit men who
control our trade — internal and external — even the
leading cattle-men who handle most of our produce,
are not to be found in its ranks." 1

In fact to-day, as in 1886 and 1893, the elements
which constitute the learning, wealth, and prosperity
of Ireland are opposed to Home Rule. The main body
of opposition is, of course, in Ulster, and accordingly
it is to Ulster2 we must look to voice Unionist
sentiment in Ireland.

The people of Ulster are emphatic, united, and
determined in their opposition to Home Rule ; and
their share in the industry and prosperity of Ireland
entitles them to a degree of consideration far in excess
of their actual numbers.

In the first place, the opinion of the City of Belfast
is entitled to respect not alone on account of its
position as the industrial centre of Ireland, but as
one of the chief ports of the United Kingdom.

Taking the amount of Customs duties paid annually
as the test of the amount of commerce passing through

1 Freeman's Journal, July 18th, 1907.

2 By Ulster in this connection is meant not the geographical
province of Ulster, but the Unionist counties of Down, Antrim,
Armagh, Londonderry, Fermanagh, and Tyrone, together with the
adjacent Unionist sections of Monaghan, Cavan, and Donegal,
including therein the cities of Belfast and Londonderry.

ULSTER 53

any port, Belfast stands fourth among the ports of
the United Kingdom, ranking next after London,
Liverpool, and Bristol.

The thriving condition of the City * is well indi-
cated in the following extract from the report of the
Council of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce — adopted
at a general meeting of the Chamber on June llth,
1912, with only three dissentients —

" So far as Belfast is concerned, its progress since
the Union has been continuous. In 1783, we find its
population was 13,105; in 1891 it was 255,950;
while the Registrar-General's estimate at April 1st,
1912, was 391,051. Thus, since the rejection of the
Home Rule Bill of 1893, the population of Belfast has
increased by over 50 per cent. In 1893 the valuation
of Belfast was £741,000; in 1912 its valuation is
£1,543,919. The total local taxation to-day (including
Water and Poor Rates) stands at 7s. Id. in the £,
that of Dublin being 10s. 3d., and that of Cork 10s. 6d.
The funds at command of the three Banks having
head offices in Belfast were, in 1892, £14,797,285 ;
in 1911 they aggregated £25,107,600. The amount
collected by the Customs Department, Belfast, for

1 In view of the unfounded allegations of the existence in Belfast
of disgraceful slum districts it is interesting to record the unanimous
findings of a Health Commission of impartial experts from Great
Britain appointed by the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 1908 to
enquire into the sanitary condition of Belfast. They report that
" the people are well housed. . . . Slums are rare in Belfast. . . .
There is an almost complete absence of antiquated courts, alleys
and common yards, such as may be seen in Dublin and Cork, and
also in many of the older seaport towns in England and Wales. . . .
Both in respect of room accommodation and in respect of the scale
of charge for rent, Belfast is greatly favoured in comparison with
other towns."

54 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

1892 was £2,376,511, and by the Inland Revenue
Department about £900,000, making together
£3,250,000. The total receipts collected by the
former (including duty on British spirits) in 1911 was
£3,647,686, and by the latter £1,267,691, making
together £4,915,377, being from these sources a con-
tribution to Imperial Revenue more than double that
of the rest of Ireland, and surpassed by no other city
in the United Kingdom, except London, Liverpool,
and Bristol. In 1893 the tonnage of vessels clearing
from Belfast was 2,002,629, and in 1911 2,841,553.
The registered tonnage of the ports of Great Britain
in 1910 was 13,361,988; that of all the ports of
Ireland, 359,853; and of the latter, Belfast holds
upwards of 74 per cent. Belfast can show the largest
shipyard, the largest tobacco factory, distillery, rope-
works, and linen factory in the world ; and it is
satisfactory to be able to state that, according to the
latest Board of Trade returns, the rate of pauperism
in Belfast is the lowest of any city in the United
Kingdom, being only 107 per 10,000, as against 296
in Dublin, 336 in Cork, 263 in Glasgow, 228 in Man-
chester, 220 in Liverpool, 209 in Bristol, and 210 the
average for the United Kingdom. Nor is the very
gratifying record in regard to pauperism at present
possessed by our city by any means accidental ; for
many years Belfast in this respect has been able to
claim an equally enviable position.

In considering the significance of the industrial
growth of Belfast as illustrated by the foregoing
statistics, it is important to recollect that coal and
practically all the raw materials for our industries —

ULSTER 55

such as iron, steel, flax, tobacco, grain, etc. — have to
be imported, and that it is outside of Ireland that the
chief markets for our products are found. The fact
that our industrial growth is due to the developments
of trade with England and Scotland, and is also of
an international character, and, further, that the
amount of trade done by our shipbuilding and manu-
facturing concerns for Irish clients is comparatively
trivial, amply justifies our desire for the maintenance
always of the closest relations with Great Britain and
complete association with the world-wide prestige of
the United Kingdom in which we freely participate.

" It cannot be too strongly emphasised that the
progress of Belfast has been made under precisely the
same laws as those governing the other cities and
provinces of Ireland. No privilege has been, or is,
enjoyed by Belfast that has not been equally within
reach of every other city or town in our island."

It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that
the prosperity of Ulster is confined to the city of
Belfast. An examination of the industries of Ireland
shows that throughout the counties of Armagh, Down,
and Antrim, and parts of Tyrone, Derry, and
Monaghan, the linen, flax-spinning, and various other
industries are in a flourishing condition. It is, indeed,
remarkable that with a few isolated exceptions, such
as Dublin, Cork, and Limerick, the industrial activity
of Ireland is confined to the North-East.

This disparity is the more remarkable because
Ulster, in respect of natural resources, possesses no
advantage, and is indeed the least favoured of all
four provinces.

56 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

Nor do the people of Ulster enjoy any preference
or privilege over the inhabitants of the rest of Ireland.
The allegation of " ascendancy " is a myth in the
imagination of those who are at a loss to explain away
the prosperity of Ulster, which is due alone to the
skill, determination, and hard work of the population.

It should be unnecessary to emphasise that since
the Act of Union in 1800, all parts of the United
Kingdom have enjoyed the same commercial rights,
and it is an idle misrepresentation to allege that the
people of Ulster have been singled out for special
advantages which have enabled them to rise to their
present prosperous condition. Indeed, the much-
abused Act of Union was the means of putting Ireland
on an equal footing with England, and of putting an
end to the short-sighted policy of preferring English
industries to Irish, which had at times marred the
administration of the British Government in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

It has also been alleged that the prosperity of
Ulster is due to the policy of the British Parliament
before the Act of Union, on the one hand of pre-
venting the importation into England of woollen
goods from Ireland, and on the other of conferring
a privilege upon the linen trade, thereby crippling the
South and West and conferring a material advantage
upon Belfast and the surrounding district.

The statement is grossly inaccurate, and at the
risk of a digression it is worth examining the fallacy
underlying it, if only to show the caution with which
it is necessary to treat the statements of those who put
forward the argument of a Protestant " ascendancy.'*

ULSTER 57

It is quite true that the British Government had at
various times before the Union yielded to the pressure
of the commercial interests in England and imposed
restrictions on Irish trade, particularly in the matter
of the import of Irish woollen goods. Indeed, this
short-sighted policy was not the least of the evils
which embittered the relations between the two
countries before the Act of Union. On the other
hand, there was no privilege conferred upon Belfast
in respect of the linen industry or anything else.
Not only so, but at the time of the Act of Union the
linen industry was distributed all over Ireland. In
the town of Belfast the manufacture of linen was
almost unknown, though hand-weaving was exten-
sively carried on in the houses of the surrounding
country and sold in the Belfast market.

From Benn's History of Belfast, published early in
the nineteenth century, we learn that at that time
" the principal manufacture of the town was cotton
in aU its branches. In 1807, Belfast contained 723
looms, only four of which were for weaving linen."

On the other hand, the linen industry which origi-
nated at Lurgan and Lisburn, was actively assisted
by the Irish Parliament through the Linen Board,
which distributed grants to every county in Ireland
— the headquarters of the Board being at Dublin.
The Board was composed of prominent noblemen and
gentlemen from all four provinces ; and it appears
that in the eighteenth century special efforts were
made to encourage the industry in the South and
West by additional Parliamentary grants to Leinster,
Munster, and Connaught ; and by the middle of the

58 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

eighteenth century every county in Ireland was
engaged in the production of linen.

The pre-eminence of Belfast in the linen industry
did not develop until a much later date, and was due
to the genius of Andrew Mulholland — a Belfast cotton
merchant — who first introduced into Ireland, in 1830,
the production of linen yarn by machinery.

Before his time the practice had been to export
flax to Manchester, where it was spun and re-imported
as yarn. The stimulus to the linen industry of
Belfast was immediate. The Ulster manufacturer
rose to the occasion and adopted the new methods ;
while on the other hand the linen industry in other
parts of Ireland, which was already declining, failed
to respond to the new conditions, and gradually dis-
appeared. The cause of the disappearance had no
connection with the Act of Union, nor is the suc-
cessful industry of Ulster due to any political
privilege or advantage. It is due to the industry,
determination and common sense of the inhabitants.

What then are the reasons for which the men of
Ulster — the most prosperous, the most loyal, and the
most law-abiding part of Ireland — refuse to submit
to the control of a Nationalist Parliament in Dublin ?

They base their opposition on the fact that they
believe that Home Rule would ruin their industrial
prosperity, would subvert their fundamental rights of
citizenship, and would place the country under the
domination of the Roman Catholic hierarchy.

First, in regard to religion. It is not suggested
that anything is to be feared in the nature of religious
persecution in the mediaeval sense ; but the events

ULSTER 59

of the past few years have shown that even under the
Imperial Parliament the clergy of the Roman Catholic
Church have not scrupled to interfere with the funda-
mental rights of Protestant members of the
community.

In 1908 a Papal decree — commonly called the
' Ne Temere ' Decree — was promulgated, which in
effect declared void marriages between Roman
Catholics and Protestants, unless celebrated before
the Roman Catholic priest of the parish or his deputy. 1
The decree is binding on all Roman Catholics.

It is hardly necessary to say that the law of the
land recognises no such condition. The religious
beliefs of the parties to a marriage, or the ritual by
which it is celebrated, are immaterial ; the only
requirement of the law is that it shall be solemnised
before the proper official — either a duly accredited
clergyman of any religious denomination, or a civil
registrar of marriages.

Nevertheless, the Roman Catholic clergy insist that
" mixed marriages " are void (and the children of
them illegitimate) unless celebrated before a Roman
Catholic priest.

The notorious McCann case is the most notable
illustration. The facts are set out in the following
memorial of the Belfast Presbytery to the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (Ireland), which
was considered by the Assembly on June 8th, 1911,
and approved —

1 " No marriage is valid which is not contracted in the presence of
the (Roman) parish priest of the place, or of the Ordinary, or of
a priest deputed by them, and of two witnesses at least."

60 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

" That the Presbytery has had under consideration
the case of Mrs. McCann, a member of Townsend
Street Congregation, Belfast, who was married to her
Roman Catholic husband in a Presbyterian church by
a Presbyterian minister in May, 1908 ; that the Papal
Decree, ' Ne Temere/ which came into operation at
Easter, 1908, declares that such marriages contracted
between a Roman Catholic and a Protestant are null
and void unless celebrated in the presence of a Roman
Catholic priest ; that in the summer of last year (1910)
Mr. and Mrs. M'Cann were informed by a Roman
Catholic priest that they were not married, and efforts
were made to induce Mrs. M'Cann to consent to be
re-married by a Roman Catholic priest, which she
resolutely refused to do ; that in consequence of her
refusal to be re-married in accordance with the
requirements of the ' Ne Temere ' Decree, she was
deserted by her husband and deprived of her children
and her household effects, and left houseless and
penniless on the streets of Belfast ; that this sad
case is only an illustration of the operation of the
' Ne Temere ' Decree ; that this decree is manifestly
in conflict with the law of the land, which it seeks
to over-ride, and is a direct incentive to the repudia-
tion of the most sacred moral obligations and to
breaches of the marriage vow, and it leads to the
most bitter form of cruelty and hardship and
injustice ; that in the opinion of the Presbytery the
Decree should be withdrawn, and that all available
steps should be taken towards securing that end."

The Bishop of Down (Church of Ireland) has well
described the appalling consequences of the decree —

ULSTER 61

" Even in the Protestant city of Belfast we have
seen a faithful wife deserted and her children spirited
away from her, in obedience to this cruel decree.
And we have seen an executive afraid to do its duty,
because Rome has spoken and justified the outrage.
Those who know intimately what is happening here
are aware of case after case in which husband or wife
is living in daily terror of similar interference ; and
also know that Protestants married to Roman
Catholics, and living in the districts where the latter
are in an overwhelming majority, often find it
impossible to stand against the odium arising from
a bigoted and hostile public opinion."

The Government have satisfied themselves by
inserting in the Home Rule Bill a proviso (in Clause 3)
preventing the Irish Parliament from passing any law
so as to make any religious belief or religious ceremony
a condition of the validity of any marriage. They
regard the prohibition as an effective safeguard. They
fail to appreciate that these abuses have been com-
mitted in spite of the law : they fail to recognise that
the danger is not one of improper legislation. No
amount of restrictions on legislation would be effective
to compel a Roman Catholic Parliament and Executive
to restrain the illegal interference of the Roman
Catholic clergy. The Roman Catholic Church is a
law unto herself, and can only be controlled by a
strong and independent executive.

Similar considerations apply to the recent ordinance
issued by the Vatican : " De trahentibus clericos ad
Tribunalia Judicum Laicorum " — commonly called the
Motu Proprio decree, of October 9th, 1911. This

62 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

ordinance is the re-issue and more precise definition
of an old law. It enacts that any person who, with-
out permission from an ecclesiastical authority, sum-
mons before a lay court of justice any ecclesiastical
person in any case — civil or criminal — incurs instant
excommunication. The excommunication takes place
automatically and absolution is reserved to the Pope
himself. The decree applies equally to private indi-
viduals and public officials, and it is appalling to
contemplate the power which it would give to the
Roman Catholic clergy over their parishioners. The
promulgation of the decree raised great alarm among
the Protestants in Ireland. Considerable discussion
took place as to the countries in which it was operative.
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin wrote an
elaborate letter to the newspapers, in which he gave
his own opinion that the Decree is inoperative in
the British Isles by the custom of the country —
owing to the original impossibility of securing its
observance. In other words, under the present con-
ditions it would be impossible to enforce it. If Ire-
land were under a Roman Catholic Parliament, there
is grave risk that the Vatican would attempt to make
the decree binding on all Roman Catholics — private
persons and officials.

Here, again, the Government imagine that they
have done all that is necessary by prohibiting legisla-
tion to that effect, although it is clear that the only
safeguard lies in the determination of the Executive
to refuse to acquiesce in the decree. Given a weak
Executive, the Roman Catholic clergy would take
good care that the decree was enforced, and it is

ULSTER 63

hardly necessary to emphasise the power it would
give them. They would be above the law.

The above are instances of clerical abuses, actual or
impending. There is even greater danger to be
feared of the establishment of clerical control through-
out Ireland at the hands of the Roman Catholic
Church — " a church which Protestants in Ireland know
from history never wavers or hesitates in its endeavour
to establish not only spiritual but civil and political
power wherever it obtains a foothold." 1

It is manifestly impossible to foretell in advance
what forms the interference of the Roman Catholic
Church would take ; her whole history is a sufficient
indication of the danger of transferring the unfettered
control of the civil authority into the hands of her
supporters. In short, "it is possible to bring to a
1 single point the reasons which make Irish Unionists
' so apprehensive as regards the religious difficulty

* under Home Rule. Their fears are not concerned
' with any special dogma of the Roman Church. But
'they recognise, as people in England do not, the
' inevitable tendency of the consistent and immemorial
' policy of the Church of Rome in relation to persons
' who refuse to submit to her claims. They know that

* policy to be one of absolute and uncompromising
'insistence on the exacting of everything which she
' regards as her right, as soon as she possesses the
' power. They know that for her toleration is only a
' temporary expedient. They know that professions

1 Mr. Agar-Robartes, M.P., a Liberal opponent of Home Rule,
one of the few of Mr. Asquith's supporters who have dared to vote
against the party on the Home Rule question (Parliamentary Debates,
June llth, 1912).

6-(2333)

64 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

' and promises made by individual Roman Catholics
4 and by political leaders, statements which to English
' ears seem a happy augury of a good time coming, are
1 of no value whatever. They do not deny that such
1 promises and guarantees express a great deal of good
' intention ; but they know that above the individual,
' whether he be layman or ecclesiastic, there is a system

* which moves on, as soon as such movement becomes

* possible, in utter disregard of his statements." 1

It is impossible to dissociate this aspect of the
question from the fundamental Roman Catholic
doctrine of " obedience " to the Church. When it is
reflected that three-fourths of the Members of the
Irish Parliament would be members of the Roman
Catholic Church, it is apparent that the power of the
Vatican to enforce obedience would inevitably be
used to secure the advancement of the Church in
every direction possible. It is not surprising that
Protestants in Ireland view with alarm the prospect
of being controlled by a Government whose policy
would be moulded according to the doctrines of the
Roman Catholic hierarchy. In the Roman Catholic
view every Protestant is a heretic and the conversion
of every Protestant child in the country is an object
to be aimed at. Looking only at the question of
education, the power of an Irish Parliament to out-
rage the feelings of Protestant parents is undeniable
and the temptation to use the power irresistible,
It is true that in the present Bill safeguards have

1 Extract from an essay on the " Religious Difficulty under
Home Rule," by the Bishop of Down (Church of Ireland), the Rt,
Rev. C. F. D'Arcy.

ULSTER 65

been inserted prohibiting legislation of a denomina-
tional character ; but in this, as in every other respect,
the fear of oppression and intolerance lies not so much
in unjust legislation as in the abuse of administrative
power by an Executive responsible to a Roman
Catholic Parliament. The ingenuity which is exer-
cised to secure the advancement of the Roman
Catholic religion is well illustrated in the recent
action of the Irish County Councils in connection with
their power to grant University scholarships out of
the county rates.

Education in Ireland is in the control of the Com-
missioners of the National Board of Education, sub-
ject to the supervision of the Irish Secretary. Owing
to the antagonistic feeling which exists between the
Protestant and Roman Catholic denominations in
Ireland, the practice in England of handing the con-
trol of education to the local authorities has not been
followed. 1 Consequently, the County Councils have
no power of interfering in educational matters. In
the single instance where power to do so has been
conferred upon them by statute, the action of those
County Councils where the Roman Catholic National-
ists are in an overwhelming majority is significant of
the manner in which education is likely to be treated
by a Roman Catholic Parliament. The procedure
adopted is ingenious, and illustrates the impossibility
of inventing legislative safeguards which it is beyond
the power of the United Irish League to circumvent.

1 It must not be supposed from this that the regulation of the
schools is reserved by the central authorities. As a matter of fact
the Roman Catholic priest is in almost every case the manager of
the Roman ^Catholic School in his parish.

66 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

Under Section 9 of the Irish Universities' Act, 1908,
County Councils may assist by scholarships students
from their respective counties at any university in
Ireland, but no grant under the Section may be subject
to any religious qualification. Mark the way in which
the words in italics have been circumvented. The
National University of Ireland, it is admitted, has
been deliberately converted into a Roman Catholic
University by Cardinal Logue and his colleagues.1
Taking advantage of this fact, twelve out of the
fifteen County Councils who instituted University
Scholarships stipulated that they should be tenable
only at the National (Roman Catholic) University or
at one of its constituent colleges.

The effect is to exclude Protestant students from
the benefit of these scholarships, unless the parents
are content to send them to the proselytizing
atmosphere of a Roman Catholic University.

The Irish Chief Secretary, in answer to a question
by Sir John Lonsdale in the House of Commons,
admitted that the restrictions were unreasonable, but
was unable to suggest any remedy beyond the pious
hope that they would not be continued. 2

In spite of Mr. Birrell's suggestion, the County
Councils maintain their attitude. The Executive
Committee of the General Council of Irish County
Councils 3 met on August 3rd, 1912, and passed a

1 Cardinal Logue, speaking at Dundalk, June 6th, 1911 : "No
matter what obstacles the Nonconformists of England may have
inserted in the constitution of the University to keep it from being
Catholic, we will make it Catholic in spite of them."

1 House of Commons Debates, November 23rd, 1911.

3 A purely Nationalist body. See last chapter.

ULSTER 67

resolution declining to recommend that County
Council Scholarships should be tenable at any Uni-
versity in Ireland, and persisting in the determination
to confine them to the National University. *

As the Nationalist County Councils have at once
seized upon the only opportunity they have of
victimising their Protestant brethren, it is not sur-
prising that the Protestants of Ireland view with con-
sternation the prospect of the whole educational
system being handed over to a Roman Catholic
Parliament at Dublin.

A close alliance exists between the Roman Catholic
clergy and the Nationalist Party. The professional
politician is astute enough to recognise the hold which
the position of the parish priest gives him over his
flock, while the clergy fully appreciate the danger to
their authority which would be involved in a policy
of opposition to the United Irish League and the
Ancient Order of Hibernians.

On the other hand, by a close alliance between the
two forces each is able to help the other to the
attainment of their respective purposes.

The parish priest actively assists in the local pro-
paganda of the United Irish League. He frequently
takes the chair at the local meetings of the League.
At election times he is active in support, acting as the
official " agent " for the Nationalist candidate or
taking his stand outside the polling booth to canvass
his parishioners as they come up to vote.

The collections for the party funds are usually at
the gates of the Roman Catholic chapel on Sundays

1 Dublin Daily Express, September 4th, 1912.

68 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

after Mass.1 The publicity of the occasion and the
organised reprisals which frequently await those who
decline to subscribe to the collection outside the
church are valuable indications of the practice of
toleration of which Mr. Redmond is at present such
an enthusiastic exponent.

It is, moreover, impossible to disregard the moral
power of the priest over the minds of his uneducated
parishioners.2 No authority is needed to support
the well-known fact that the Irish peasantry are com-
pletely under the thumb of the Roman Catholic clergy.

1 Instances of this are an everyday occurrence. It would be
possible to fill pages with announcements from the local press.
The following are typical —

" MOYLOUGH BRANCH OF THE UNITED IRISH

LEAGUE (COUNTY SLIGO).

" At a meeting on the 24th November, 1912, it was stated that
' the collection will be made at the chapel gate on the 8th December,
and every man, young and old, is expected to take out his card of
membership and become enrolled under the United Irish League
banner.' " — Connaught Tribune, November 30th, 1912.

" TEMPLEDERRY BRANCH OF THE UNITED IRISH LEAGUE."
" A good gathering attended last Sunday's meeting. Father
Cunningham, parish priest, presided. It was decided to hold a
collection at the church gates in the several districts of the parish
in aid of the branch funds on Sunday, December 10th, and following
Sunday, when it is hoped every person in the parish will join the
U.I.L."— Nenagh News, November 18th, 1911.

2 At the risk of outraging my readers with a surfeit of quotations,
I cannot resist giving an instance which occurred at a bye-election
in 1911 at North Tyrone, where the parties are very evenly divided,
and many Roman Catholics had declared their intention of voting
for the Unionist candidate. The parish priest of Strabane — the
chief place in the constituency, finished an electioneering speech
on the eve of the poll as follows : " Any Nationalist voter who votes
for Mr. Herdman (the Unionist candidate) or abstains from voting,
will be a recreant to his country ; he will not be voting according
to his conscience, which every man is bound to, and for which he
will be held responsible on the Day of Judgment." The Nationalist
candidate was elected by the narrow majority of 18. Verb. sap.

ULSTER 69

Accordingly, one cannot fail to appreciate the
significance of an appeal such as the following, which
is typical of the methods employed to coerce obedi-
ence to the will of the Nationalist Party. The Rev.
J. J. Hegarty, parish priest, speaking at the Glen-
castle Branch of the U.I.L. on June 16th, 1912, said :
" He understood that there had not been a subscrip-
tion sent to the Irish Parliamentary Fund for the past
few years by the parish, and said it was downright
dereliction of duty on the part of the people not to
have given their financial support to a party which
every Irishman the world over looks up to with pride." l

In short, the establishment of a Nationalist Parlia-
ment at Dublin would place the seal upon the bond
which exists between the Nationalist agitators and
the Roman Catholic clergy to maintain undisturbed
their supremacy over the uneducated sections of the
people of Ireland.

On the other hand, it is claimed that the grant of
self-government to Ireland would be the best means
of freeing the country from the control of the Roman
Catholic clergy. It is true that in some countries
democratic government, after a long lapse of time,
has overthrown clerical control ; it is equaUy true
that in other countries it has not had this effect.
The province of Quebec is a notable example of
clerical supremacy acting under the cloak of demo-
cratic institutions ; while the recent revolution in
Portugal shows the danger of allowing clerical supre-
macy to maintain its foothold until displaced by a
violent upheaval of public indignation. Whatever

1 Western People, June 22nd, 1912.

70 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

might conceivably happen a hundred years hence, the
present conditions in Ireland render it inevitable that
under Home Rule, the Roman Catholic Church would
for a long time have a predominant voice in the
government of the country and the counsels of the
Irish Parliament.

In addition to the fear of clerical domination,
there is the added danger of persecution from
political animosity, masquerading under the guise of
religion. The powerful secret society — the " Ancient
Order of Hibernians " — whose membership is restricted
to Roman Catholics, and whose branches extend all
over Ireland, would be the constant terror of Pro-
testants under a Nationalist Parliament. The danger
of this is illustrated by a recent incident, which aroused
general indignation in the North of Ireland and in
Great Britain.

At the end of June, 1912, public opinion was
startled by the news of a violent attack by a party of
the Ancient Order of Hibernians upon a Presbyterian
Sunday school treat from Whiteabbey, near Belfast,
mostly composed of children. The facts are con-
tained in the following extracts from an account by
an eye-witness. As the latter is a Welsh Noncon-
formist minister 1 and a supporter of Mr. Asquith's
Government, there can be no question of Ulster
prejudice or political bias.

" A fortnight ago I came to Whiteabbey to conduct
some special Gospel Services. . . On Saturday,
29 June, the Whitehouse Presbyterian Sunday School

1 The Rev. G. E. Thomas, of Ogmore Vale, South Wales. The
account is contained in a letter dated July 4th, 1912.

ULSTER 71

went for their annual outing, and I was invited to
go with them. The place chosen for the day was
Castledawson, Co. Derry. . . . About 400 went, the
majority of whom were children. . . It seems the
' Hibernians ' of the district had been away to some
demonstration, and returned by rail to Castledawson
about 5.30 p.m. The procession, which they formed
immediately outside the station, consisted of four
' drum and fife ' bands, the great majority of whom
were men. In fact, I did not see more than a dozen
boys. In front of the procession was carried a large
flag with the likeness of the Pope in the centre. About
this time (i.e., shortly after 5.10) the Sunday School
proceeded to the station to catch their train home,
which was to leave about 6 o'clock. Unfortunately,
the two processions met ; and as soon as the Hibernians
came opposite the Union Jack flag, which was carried
by one of the scholars, they made a rush for it, and
tore it off the pole. This was but the commencement
of one of the ugliest sights I have ever witnessed, for
these men, some of whom were under the influence of
drink, behaved more like wild beasts than men. A
number of them carried spears, and used them freely.
. . . Some of the men, who were fathers, were
badly cut and bruised whilst saving their children ;
whilst not a few of the younger men had their faces
cut and their clothes torn. . . . Besides this, the
banners and flags were torn from the poles and
trampled upon, and the poor helpless children scattered
in all directions. . . . The attack on the Sunday
School was made near the police station. This was
fortunate for the children, because had it not been for

72 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

the good behaviour of the police and the help of some
civilians, it seemed that some must have lost their
lives. I may say that hitherto I have not given much
serious thought to the question of ' Home Rule ' ;
but who, with eyes to see, can fail to see what it will
mean if it does come, when things like this happen in
Protestant Ulster ? I have been brought up a strict
Nonconformist in South Wales, and that, of course,
means to support the Liberal Party ; but, after this,
I shall not feel free to support them, at least, on the
, question of Home Rule for Ireland. . . . There is a
, vast difference between ' things as they are ' in
1 Ireland and things as they are represented in the
English and Welsh Radical Press, and that is all I
have been accustomed to read. This accounts for my
ignorance ; and I say, without fear of contradiction,
that this is the way to account for thousands of
Protestants in England and Wales supporting the
Government who are trying to force Home Rule."

The leaders of the " Hibernian " party were subse-
quently prosecuted at the Ulster Assizes,1 and some
two dozen received sentences of imprisonment with
hard labour.8

The above incident s is worth narrating in detail,
because it is cases of this kind which explain the

1 Belfast News Letter, December 21st and 23rd, 1912.

* Mr. Justice Wright in his summing up to the jury : " The
worst feature of the whole case was that the Sunday School party
was composed to a great extent of very young children — boys and

§irls — and women. The children ran terrorised in all directions,
ome of them took refuge in the police barrack, and the women and
children went screaming about the place."

8 To this incident alone is attributable a great deal of the recent
friction and violent quarrels between Protestant and Roman Catholic
workmen in the Belfast shipyards.

ULSTER 73

Protestant feelings of detestation and disgust, and
the dread of the people of Ulster at the prospect of
being subordinated to a Nationalist Parliament, in
which the Ancient Order of Hibernians would have a
controlling voice. It is remarkable that the
Nationalist Party in the House of Commons have
tendered no expression of regret at the disgraceful
occurrence.

Secondly, the people of Ulster are justly appre-
hensive that Home Rule would bring to an abrupt
and bitter termination the prosperous condition which
they have built up as the result of their industry and
determination. Briefly stated, their reasons for this
belief may be grouped under three heads. In the
first place, they believe that the whole wealth and
prosperity of Ireland are mainly due to the good
government which they enjoy as part of the United
Kingdom. This view is summarised in the following
passages from the report of the Belfast Chamber of
Commerce already referred to —

" In view of the country's present and growing
prosperity, we have a right to ask what is the justifica-
tion for the present proposal for so revolutionary a
change ? Ireland is manifestly unfitted for an experi-
ment of such stupendous import as is involved in this
Bill ; nor is it rationally conceivable how the experi-
ment could possibly succeed. The commercial and
manufacturing districts, though so important, form
but a relatively small portion of the country. Ireland
possesses neither the natural resources, the capital,
nor the unity of race or interest capable of enabling

74 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

it successfully to stand alone without the support of
Imperial credit.

" With our firmly established position in the Empire
we are perfectly satisfied. The trade and commerce
of Ireland are hampered by no qualifications or con-
ditions which do not equally affect every part of the
United Kingdom. Indeed, it is beyond controversy
that, under the rule of Imperial Parliament, the
country as a whole has obtained benefits and advan-
tages which could never have been secured under any
Irish Government.

" Therefore, as patriotic Irishmen, we protest
against a change more than ever uncalled for and, as
we believe, fraught with disaster to our country — a
change under which the peculiar industrial interests
of this part of Ireland would be at the mercy of a per-
manent majority with antagonistic ideals and methods.

" In conclusion, as responsible citizens of the
United Kingdom, we enter solemn and resolute pro-
test against such unmerited degradation of our status
as is assuredly involved in our being thrust out of
that full community of interest and national life with
Great Britain which we now enjoy."

Secondly, they know that the introduction of Home
Rule would immediately cause a serious shock to
security and credit in Ireland. Trade without credit
is almost impossible, and they feel that the extensive
trade relations of Ulster would be the first to suffer
from the loss of confidence caused by the change.

Already the introduction of the present Bill and
the Home Rule campaign have produced a marked
effect on Irish credit. An index of the present sense

ULSTER 75

of insecurity is apparent in the depreciation of leading
Irish Stocks from 15 to 20 per cent. Bank of Ireland
Stock has fallen steadily since the Liberal Government
assumed office in 1906, and during the last two years
the depreciation has increased with appalling insist-
ence. The highest and lowest prices of the Stock in
1911 were 304 and 269. In 1912, 280 and 245 ; while
at the present time 1 the Stock stands at 235.

" Commercial confidence and business credit cannot
co-exist with a distrusted public Exchequer. The
transfer of public money collected in Ireland to meet
the transferred services is admittedly barely sufficient
for that purpose. Consequently the Irish Govern-
ment will have no security to offer for its Consols ; it
will only be able to borrow (if at all) at dispro-
portionately high rates of interest. The disastrous
effect of such a state of things upon the commercial
credit of Ireland is only too evident."2

Not the least of the causes which would produce
this feeling of insecurity lies in the character of the
Nationalist Party, whose entire history shows them
to be devoid of the qualities which are essential to a
sound and statesmanlike administration. The inci-
dents related in the last chapter are alone sufficient
to justify this regrettable conclusion ; but, by way
of further illustration, it is worth while to record an
incident which occurred four years ago under the
present Liberal administration in connection with the
law relating to compensation for malicious injuries to
property.

1 The Times, February 6th, 1913.

1 Belfast Chamber of Commerce. Reply to Mr. Asquith, August
7th, 1912.

76 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

Owing to the serious damage inflicted on indi-
viduals by the perpetrators of agrarian crime in
Ireland, the law allows compensation recoverable in
the county court and payable out of the county rates,
for malicious injuries either to person or property.
In England, compensation out of the rates is only
allowed for malicious injuries caused in the course of
a riot. The special provisions in force in Ireland are
due to the impossibility of recovering compensation
from the actual perpetrators of the damage. The
perpetrators of agrarian crime have the sanction of a
large section of the community, and they are able by
means of organised intimidation to shield themselves
behind a dead wall of silence. Cowed by the fear of
the Leagues and Secret Societies, witnesses of the
acts complained of have not the courage to come for-
ward and give evidence. The statistics of the last
few years from the Annual Volume of Irish Judicial
Statistics (Civil) show that there is no abatement in
the resort to malicious injury as a weapon of
intimidation —

Glaims for

1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911

The majority of cases of persons whose property is
injured are small farmers or small occupiers of some
house or plot in a village.

1 The balance is made up of dismissals, cases pending, and
cases settled otherwise.

Compen-

Awards. 1

Amount

sation.

Awarded.

710
714

450
444

^7,658
13,040

852

514

14,502

1,028

708

14,468

852

568

9,789

1,456

1,013

18,065

ULSTER 77

The necessity for the continuance of the compensa-
tion statutes is demonstrated by the above figures of
the number of cases in which awards have been made
after careful judicial investigation in the county court.
The ordinary processes of the law are powerless to
bring the offenders to justice in face of the
intimidation of witnesses and juries.

In 1909 the Nationalist Party introduced a Bill to
repeal the statutes allowing compensation ; but even
the present Government were alive to the importance
of the safeguard, and opposed the proposed repeal.

The speech of Mr. Cherry, the Irish Attorney-
General, is worth quoting —

" We are opposing the proposed repeal because we
think it only consistent with justice and right that
this system of compensation for maiming or murder-
ing police-officers or witnesses, and for malicious
injury to property, no matter what the object may
be, whether political or personal, should go on." l

The Bill was lost ; but, in the division, the Nation-
alist Party went into the Lobby in a body in favour
of the repeal of the Compensation Acts.

This was only four years ago, and there is no indica-
tion of any change of views in that time. It is a fair
assumption that the repeal by a Nationalist Parlia-
ment of the Acts giving compensation would follow as
a matter of course.

It is obvious that this system of compensation,
while giving some measure of relief to the individuals
who are the subjects of attack, must also act as a
deterrent ; for the general body of ratepayers are, in

> Parl Debates, May 21st, 1909, col, 776S

78 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

consequence, more inclined to bring offenders to
justice and, however much addicted to disorder,
naturally object to the resulting increase in the rates.
It may be said without question that a repeal of the
statutes would result in an increase of this form of
intimidation. Here, then, we have an example of
the whole of the official Nationalist Party openly
voting in favour of the repeal of a measure which is
designed to increase the feeling of security in Ireland
and compensate individuals for criminal attacks upon
their property. Can it be wondered that the people
of Ulster are convinced that security and confidence
are incompatible with a Nationalist administration ?

So far, attention has been drawn only to the
indirect effects of Home Rule upon the credit and
prosperity of Ulster. But there are ample grounds
for apprehending a direct attack by a Nationalist
Parliament upon the wealthy industries of the North.
Having regard to the antagonism which exists between
the Protestants of the North and the Catholics of the
South and West, it would not in any circumstances
be surprising that a Nationalist majority should
endeavour to fasten the burden of taxation upon the
shoulders of their Northern rivals. Viewed in the
light of the actual economic conditions in Ireland, the
probability becomes a certainty.

Under the present Home Rule Bill, according to the
financial estimate submitted by the Government,1
the revenue at the disposal of the new Irish Govern-
ment, without resorting to further taxation, is fixed
at £500,000 per annum above the present cost of

1 See Appendix.

ULSTER 79

Irish administration, and this margin of £500,000 will
ultimately be reduced to £200,000. Now it has
already been pointed out that Mr. Redmond admits
the impossibility of economy for more than a genera-
tion ; and in view of the expense which must attend
the establishment and maintenance of an elaborate
Parliamentary system at Dublin, even in the most
favourable circumstances there must be a tendency
for the national expenditure to increase. But the
circumstances are not favourable. In the first place,
past experience of Irish conditions points to the
dismal conclusion that the new Irish Government
would be corrupt from its inception. Unfortunately,
the fact that among certain classes of Irishmen jobbery
and corruption are an essential part of public life is
only too well known to need further comment here. 1
It is matter of common knowledge that the
Nationalist Party would be immediately confronted
with an enormous demand for the creation of salaried
jobs to satisfy their supporters.*

1 The Most Rev. Dr. O'Dea, Roman Catholic Bishop of Galway,
in a sermon on the eve of the municipal elections in 1911 : " All
the world over it is said that Ireland is wanting in civic virtues —
it will be a sad thing if Ireland does not set an example of what her
people can do in the way of selecting honest true-minded public men
who can manage her affairs faithfully."

2 This is the chief reason for the proposed transfer of the Post
Office under the Home Rule Bill to the Irish Government contrary
to the practice in all Federal systems.

Mr. William O'Brien, M.P., Leader of the Independent Nation-
alist Party, speaking at Cork on Saturday, March 1st, 1913 :
" Finally they all knew that the most substantial dread of the
Protestant minority was that they and their children would be
ousted from every office of emolument in their country, and that
the new Parliament would be the scene of a squalid scramble for
jobs among victorious politicians belonging to one particular
sectarian society 130,000 strong." — The Times, March 3rd, 1913.

7— (2333)

80 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

From these causes alone, a considerable increase in
Irish expenditure is imminent. But, admittedly,
reforms involving the expenditure of large sums
annually are urgently needed in various directions,
notably in the case of education ; and, in addition,
Mr. Redmond has indicated in a general way further
spheres of activity which, in his opinion, await the
attention of an Irish Parliament, and, without any
attempt at detail, has prophesied a comprehensive
scheme of reforms. But all these things cost money,
and the ultimate result must be a large increase in
Irish expenditure — both permanent and annual. In
addition to this, the diminishing trade which must
follow upon the shock to credit and security caused
by the change to Home Rule spells diminished revenue
from ordinary sources of taxation. The revenues of
the United Kingdom will no longer be available to
make up any loss in the Irish balance sheet.1

The Nationalist majority in the Dublin Parliament
would be almost entirely representative of agricultural
interests alone. The few and relatively insignificant
manufactures of Dublin, Waterford, Limerick, and
Cork in no way affect the general proposition that the
Nationalist Party derives its strength from, and is
dependent on, the agricultural part of the
population.

Now, the farmers declare and are encouraged by
the agitators in the belief that they are already over-
taxed, and would undoubtedly resist fresh impositions.

1 See Chapter VIII. Under the Bill the grant from the British
Exchequer, known as the transferred sum, will be fixed at the time
of the passing of the Act.

ULSTER 81

Indeed, under Home Rule they have been encouraged
to expect a millennium ; and any attempt by a
Nationalist Government to raise revenue by further
taxing the agricultural districts would raise such
violent opposition on the part of their supporters as
would split the party from top to bottom.

The conclusion stands out ruthless and irresistible
that the whole brunt of the deficit must be borne by
the industrial community of Ulster, who, being in a
minority in the Irish Parliament, would be made to
pay for the luxury of an experiment in Government
to which they are bitterly opposed.

The policy of super-taxing the industries of Ulster
is admittedly short-sighted and would ultimately
tend to the impoverishment of the rest of Ireland.
The chief economic necessity of the country lies in the
development of manufactures and commerce and the
extension of industrial development to other parts of
Ireland would receive an immediate check. But as
the destructive programme of the Nationalists in the
past has done more than anything else to retard the
development of Ireland, there is no reason to suppose
that a strict regard for economic principles would
deter them from laying violent hands on the accumu-
lated wealth of the North — a patent source of
immediate revenue.

In the words of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce —

" The general effect of the present measure, as of
the Bill of 1893, would be that, through the power of
taxation, the manufactures and commerce of Ireland
will necessarily stand at the mercy of a majority who
have little direct concern in the commercial interests

82 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

so vitally affected, and who are without adequate
experience of the science of government."

Finally, the people of Ulster bitterly resent the
attempt to deprive them of their position as citizens
of the United Kingdom. For more than one hundred
years they and their fathers have lived under the
protection of the Imperial Parliament, and they
regard as their inalienable birthright their position
of equality with the inhabitants of Great Britain.
They are satisfied with the present form of Govern-
ment, and refuse to be handed over to the control of
an Executive which they have every reason to mis-
trust. They yield to no man in their loyalty to the
'King and to the Empire, and they decline to submit
to the dictation of a Parliament composed of men
who take as their motto : " England's difficulty is
Ireland's opportunity."

The people of Ulster ask for no ascendancy. They
possess no ascendancy, but they will submit to no
ascendancy. They do not ask for any special privilege
or any special advantage which is not equally enjoyed
by every other part of the United Kingdom. They
ask only to be left as they are . They refuse to exchange
their position of liberty and equality under the Imperial
Parliament for that of a degraded fragment of a
tributary kingdom.

Nor can we expect them to forget the threats of
their opponents at a time when they were not engaged
in paying lip-service to loyalty and toleration.

The memory of such sentiments as the following is
not easily effaced —

ULSTER 83

" When we come out of the struggle, we will
remember who were the people's friends and who
were the people's enemies, and deal out our reward
to one and our punishment to the other." 1

The quotation is an old one, but it is not without
a modern parallel. Mr. Devlin has recently boasted
of the Ancient Order of Hibernians as " a terror to
its enemies all over Ireland." 2

In the words of Mr. Bonar Law —

" The people of Ulster have burned into their
memory not only what the Nationalists have said,
but what they have done. It is not their words only,
but their deeds ; and when you ask Ulster to submit
to such a rule — to trust them — the Ulster people can
only trust them on one condition, that they refuse to
believe anything these people have ever said, that
they forget everything these people have ever done."

The opposition of Ulster to Home Rule is of an
entirely different nature to that ordinary opposition
to controversial legislation which is a familiar feature
of Parliamentary Government.

It is a commonplace of British politics that legis-
lative proposals, however strongly they may be
opposed in Parliament, when once passed into law,

1 Mr. Dillon, M.P., December 5th, 1886, at Kilmovee.

In the handbook of the " Catholic Association," published
September, 1903 , appeared the following : " Nobody should be so
unreasonable as to expect the executive of the Association to
reveal in full the methods by which they hope to redress their
grievances, or to chastise the bigotry of their opponents."

2 At Limerick, September 16th, 1912, reported in Freeman's
Journal of September 17th. Mr. Devlin is President of the Ancient
Order of Hibernians, and one of the leaders of the Nationalist
Party in the House of Commons, in company with Messrs. Redmond
and Dillon,

84 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

are acquiesced in as the considered judgment of the
nation, and when the party in opposition assumes
office it is unusual to attempt to reverse the legislation
of their predecessors.

In the light of current events, it is hardly necessary
to explain that in the case of Ulster no such acqui-
escence is possible. Their opposition to Home Rule
arises from no partisan spirit.

If the menace of Home Rule were permanently
removed, there is no doubt that the usual party
divisions — Conservative, Liberal, and Labour — would
reappear in Ulster, and it is probable that the Liberal
element would predominate ; but at the present time
minor political differences sink into insignificance
before the common fear of Home Rule.

The attitude of Ulster has been aptly compared to
that of the British Colonists in North America, which
resulted in the War of Independence. It is the
unalterable determination of a free people to resist
the attempt to deprive them of their rights.

It is, indeed, impossible to convey to those who
have not lived among the people of Ulster an idea of
the extent and depth of the feeling which exists in
the North-East of Ireland contrasted with the com-
parative apathy which exists in those parts of Ireland
which are said to be in favour of Home Rule.

The same feeling was exhibited in Ulster at the
time of the Home Rule Bills of 1886 and 1893. The
lapse of twenty years has only served to deepen
conviction and increase resentment.

The following account of the events of the last two
years may provide some impression, though at the

ULSTER 85

best faint and inadequate, of the deep-rooted senti-
ments which animate the inhabitants of the most
prosperous part of Ireland.

The Ulstermen have taken as their motto the
famous declaration of Gustavus Hamilton — the Com-
mander of the Protestant forces at Enniskillen in 1689
— " We stand upon our guard ; but do resolve, by
the blessing of God, rather to go out to meet our
danger than to await it."

So soon as the Parliament Act was passed in
August, 1911, and it was evident that a Home Rule
Bill would be introduced in the next Session of Parlia-
ment, it became necessary for Unionist Ulster to pre-
pare an organised campaign of opposition to the
measure. Sir Edward Carson was unanimously chosen
as the leader of the Unionist Party in Ireland ; and
the first great meeting was held at Craigavon, near
Belfast, on September 23rd, 1911, when 50,000 men
marched past the newly-appointed leader and tens
of thousands lined the route of the procession from
Belfast to the place of meeting.

It was on this occasion that Sir Edward Carson
embodied the attitude of Ulster in the declaration :
" Under no circumstances will we accept Home Rule
or acknowledge any Executive Government which is
not responsible to the Imperial Parliament." Two
days later, on September 25th, a resolution was passed
by the assembled delegates of the Unionist Associa-
tions ratifying the proposal that in the event of the
Home Rule Bill being forced into law a Provisional
Government should be set up in Ulster.

The following is the text of the resolution —

86 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

" That we delegates of the Ulster Unionist Associa-
tions, the Unionist Clubs of Ireland, and the Loyal
Orange Institution of Ireland, in united meeting
assembled, recognising that the public peace of this
country is in great and imminent danger by reason of
the threat to establish a Parliament in Dublin, and
knowing that such a step will eventually lead to dis-
aster to the Empire and absolute ruin to Ireland, the
degradation of our citizenship in the United Kingdom
and the destruction of our material property, and our
civil and religious liberties ;

" Hereby call upon our leaders to take any steps
they may consider necessary to resist the establish-
ment of Home Rule in Ireland, solemnly pledging
themselves that under no conditions shall we acknow-
ledge any such Government or obey its decrees ; and

" We further assure our leaders that those whom
we represent will stand by them loyally in any action
they may take, and give their unwavering support
in any danger they may be called upon to face.

" That inasmuch as His Majesty's Government has
intimated its intention to pass a measure of Home
Rule for Ireland, and as we have again and again
expressed our determination not to submit to Home
Rule, the time has now come when we consider it
our imperative duty to make arrangements for the
Provisional Government of Ulster.

" It is resolved that we hereby appoint a commission
whose duties shall be —

" (1) To keep Sir Edward Carson in constant and

close touch with the feeling of Unionist Ulster as

represented by its various Lovalist organisations ;

ULSTER 87

" (2) And in the case of emergency, with his
approval, to take immediate action ;

" (3) To take immediate steps, in consultation
with Sir Edward Carson, to frame and submit a
Constitution for a Provisional Government for
Ulster, having due regard to the interests of the
Loyalists in other parts of Ireland: the powers
and duration of such Provisional Government to
come into operation on the day of the passage of
any Home Rule Bill, to remain in force until Ulster
shall again resume unimpaired her citizenship in
the United Kingdom and her high position in the
great British Empire."

Other demonstrations followed, in January, at Omagh,
Ballymena, and Coleraine. The Church of Ireland and
the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches recorded
their protest at a series of meetings in February and
March ; and on Easter Tuesday a second enormous
demonstration was held at Balmoral, near Belfast, in
which over a quarter of a million took part. Mr.
Bonar Law — the leader of the Opposition — Sir Edward
Carson, and over seventy Members of Parliament were
present.

The proceedings were opened by a short religious
service, conducted by the Lord Primate of Ireland
and the Moderator-Elect of the General Assembly of
Presbyterian Churches. Over 100,000 men marched
past Mr. Bonar Law at the saluting-point.

Upon a concerted signal at each of the platforms,
the whole of the great assembly repeated the famous
declaration of the Ulster Convention of 1892 ; " We
will not have Home Rule/*

88 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

During the summer of 1912, attention was focussed
on the Debates on the Home Rule Bill in the House
of Commons ; and, in the meantime, the people of
Ulster were quietly preparing for organised resistances
in the event of the Bill becoming law.

In the autumn, a great campaign was organised
throughout the province. Mass meetings were
addressed by Sir Edward Carson at Enniskillen,
Lisburn, Londonderry, Coleraine, and Portadown, and
by other speakers at other centres. The proceedings
culminated in a demonstration at the Ulster Hall on
September 27th, prior to the signing of the Covenant
on the foUowing day.

The terms of the Covenant had already been ratified
at a meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council on
September 23rd, when the following resolution was
passed unanimously —

" Inasmuch as we, the duly elected delegates and
members of the Ulster Unionist Council representing
all parts of Ulster, are firmly persuaded that by no
law can the right to govern those whom we represent
be bartered away without their consent ; that,
although the present Government — the services and
sacrifices of generations of our race having been for-
gotten— may drive us forth from a Constitution which
we have ever loyally upheld, they may not deliver us
bound into the hands of our enemies ; and that it is
incompetent for any authority, party, or people to
appoint as our rulers a Government dominated by men
disloyal to the Empire, and to whom our faith and
traditions are hateful: and, inasmuch as we rever-
ently believe that, as in times past, it was given our

ULSTER 89

fathers to save themselves from a like calamity, so
now it may be ordered that our deliverance shall be
by our own hands : to which end it is needful that
we be knit together as one man, each strengthening
the other, and none holding back or counting the cost :

" Therefore, we, Loyalists of Ulster, ratify and con-
firm the steps so far taken by the Special Commission
this day submitted and explained to us, and we
reappoint the Commission to carry on its work on
our behalf as in the past. We enter into the Solemn
Covenant appended hereto ; and, knowing the great-
ness of the issues depending on our faithfulness, we
promise each to the others that, to the uttermost of
the strength and means given us, and not regarding
any selfish or private interest, our substance, or our
lives, we will make good the said Solemn Covenant.
And we now bind ourselves in the steadfast determina-
tion that, whatever may befall, no such domination
shall be thrust upon us, and in the hope that, by the
blessing of God, our Union with Great Britain, upon
which are fixed our affections and trust, may yet be
maintained, and that for ourselves and for our
children, for this province, and for the whole of
Ireland, peace, prosperity, and civil and religious
liberty may be secured under the Parliament of the
United Kingdom and of the King, whose faithful
subjects we are and will continue all our days."

On Ulster Day— September 28th, 1912— the people
of Ulster entered into a Solemn League and Covenant
in the following terms —

" Being convinced in our consciences that Home
Rule would be disastrous to the material well-being of

90 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

Ulster, as well as of the whole of Ireland, subversive
of our civil and religious freedom, destructive of our
citizenship, and perilous to the unity of the Empire,
we, whose names are underwritten, men of Ulster,
loyal subjects of His Gracious Majesty King George V,
humbly relying on the God whom our fathers in days
of stress and trial confidently trusted, do hereby pledge
ourselves in solemn Covenant, throughout this our
time of threatened calamity, to stand by one another
in defending for ourselves and our children our
cherished position of equal citizenship in the United
Kingdom, and in using all means which may be found
necessary to defeat the present conspiracy to set up
a Home Rule Parliament in Ireland. And in the
event of such a Parliament being forced upon us, we
further solemnly and mutually pledge ourselves to
refuse to recognise its authority.

" In sure confidence that God will defend the right,
we hereto subscribe our names. And, further, we
individually declare that we have not already signed
this Covenant."

The first signature to the Covenant was written by
Sir Edward Carson in the Ulster Hall, on the stroke
of noon, on Ulster Day ; and throughout the
remainder of that day and for several days after, the men
of Ulster flocked to the hall to add their signatures.

A declaration was signed by the women in the
following terms —

" We, whose names are underwritten, women of
Ulster and loyal subjects of our Gracious King, being
firmly persuaded that Home Rule would be disastrous
to our country, desire to associate ourselves with the

Ulster's -

TUague and Covenant

convinced In our consciences tbat 3<bme TluU
would be disastrous to t^e material well-being of KUter
as well as of tt>e wt>olc of Ireland, subversive of our
civil and religious freedom, destructive of our cltUenstjip and
perilous to tlje unit? of H>e Empire, we, wljose names are under*
written, men of Klster, lovat subjects of "His <5ractou* 3ttaiest*
Jffing <Beorge V., ljumblv reiving on tlje <Bo5 wfyom our fathers In
daps of stress and trial confidently trusted, do b/erebv pledge
ourselves in solemn Covenant throughout tl)ls our time of
threatened calamity to stand b? one another in defending for
ourselves and our children our cfeerls^ed position of equal cltUcn-
si>lp in ti>e Knlted Tiingdom and in using all means wfytcl) ma; be
found necessarv to defeat t^e present conspiracy to set up a
Hfome 3\ule "parliament In 3reland. ^ ^nd in t^e event of
suct> a 'parliament being forced upon us we further solemnly and
mutually pledge ourselves to refuse to recognise its authority.
f 3n sure confidence $ot <&od will defend t^e rtg^t we hereto
subscribe our names, f 13\«d further, we individually declare
tfcat we ^ave not already signed tljls Covenant.

"&&. above was signed k? me at
"lOster "Day," Saturday. 28t5) September.

<Bo5 Save t^e "King*

Facsimile of tlic parchment copy of the Solemn League and Covenant

which was given to each of the signatories of that document in

token of his pledge. In tJiis instance the signature is that of

Sir Edward Carson.

ULSTER 91

men of Ulster in their uncompromising opposition to
the Home Rule Bill now before Parliament, whereby
it is proposed to drive Ulster out of her cherished
place in the Constitution of the United Kingdom, and
to place her under the domination and control of a
Parliament in Ireland. Praying that from this
calamity God will save Ireland, we hereto subscribe
our names."

The total number of signatures to the two documents
was 471,414, made up as follows —

Men. Women.

Number of signatures in Ulster 218,206 228,999

Number of signatures in other
places, including Dublin and the
rest of Ireland, English and Scot-
tish Agencies, and individual
signatures received at Head-
quarters 19,162 5,047

Total 237,368 234,046

These simple facts — the grave and solemn language
of the documents, the number of earnest, law-abiding
citizens who signed their names to them — are more
eloquent testimony of the determination of Ulster to
resist Home Rule than it would be possible to convey
by the most graphic description of the proceedings.

It is a common taunt that the leaders of the Unionist
Party in Ireland have attempted by violent language
to rouse the people of Ulster to resist Home Rule ;
that they have descended to the tricks of the mob
orator and the paid agitator. Those who know the
feelings of the Ulstermen will recognise the absurdity
of the suggestion. The first ten signatures to the
Covenant should be enough to disprove it, for among

92 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

them are those of the Dean of Belfast, the Moderator
of the General Assembly of Presbyterian Churches,
the General Secretary of the same body, and the
Vice-President of the Methodist Conference.

A clever tongue can inspire indignation in a mob,
but no man by mere words can deceive a whole nation
into the imagination of threatened injustice. The
leaders of Ulster opinion have but given expression to
the feelings of an outraged people.

Such, then, is the position in Ulster. The next
move is with the Government. The House of Lords
have rejected the Home Rule Bill, and there is no
doubt that they will do so again if it is presented to
them a second time.

If, in the face of the grave warnings which have
been given, the Government bring in the Bill a third
time — in 1914 — and persist in passing it into law
without the consent of the House of Lords under the
operation of the Parliament Act, x Ulster will decline to
accept the new Constitution and the Provisional Govern-
ment will be set up. If, in the last resort, the British
Government have recourse to force to compel the
submission of Ulster, civil war in Ireland is inevitable.

The situation is not a pleasant one for any
Government to face.

If the circumstances in 1893 are any criterion, it is
doubtful whether even the British Army could be
relied on. In 1893, Lord Wolseley — Commander-rn-
Chief of the troops in Ireland — wrote to the Duke of

1 See Introduction. If the same Bill is passed in the House of
Commons in three successive sessions extending over a period of
not less than two years, it becomes law without the consent of the
House of Lords.

ULSTER 93

Cambridge — the Commander-in-Chief of the British
Army —

" Of this, Sir, I beg of your Royal Highness to be
quite assured, and that is that Ulster is determined
to resist, and will fight a outrance if at any future time
she be cut off from England and placed at the mercy
of a race which her people hate as much as they
despise it. ... The general belief in the North is
that our troops, if ordered to fire on men who will
meet them with shouts of ' God Save the Queen/ will
fire over them. However, what I wish you, Sir, to
realize is that the Ulstermen mean to fight. . . .
Politicians have a pleasing way of believing only just
what suits their own party exigencies; and I find
that those who have now allied themselves with what
Mr. Bright used to call the ' rebel party ' pretend to
laugh if one mentions the determination of the
Northern loyalists to fight. ... If ever our troops
are brought into collision with the loyalists of Ulster
and blood is shed, it will shake the whole foundations
upon which our Army rests to such an extent that I
feel that our Army will never be the same again.
Many officers will resign to join Ulster ; and there will
be such a host of retired officers in the Ulster ranks,
that men who would stand by the Government, no
matter what it did, will be worse than half-hearted in
all they do. No Army could stand such a strain
upon it." l

If the Home Rule Bill becomes law, will the
Government resort to the extreme course of ordering
British soldiers to fire on their fellow-citizens in Ulster ?

1 Military Life of H.R.H. George Duke of Cambridge, by Col.
Verner, vol. ii, p. 379.

94 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

Is it too much to hope that saner councils will
prevail : that His Majesty's Minister will heed the
solemn warning given by Sir Edward Carson on a
famous occasion in the House of Commons ? —

" In conclusion, Sir, having regard to the object
which I have in view in moving this amendment,
which is to put before the House the views which my
colleagues and myself entertain as regards the position
that is created in Ireland, I would just like to read
one passage from a great historical document which
was, I believe, drawn up mainly by Ulster Scots.
It is this—

* Nor have we been wanting in attention to our
British brethren. We have warned them from time
to time of attempts by the legislature to extend an
unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have
reminded them of the circumstances of our emigra-
tion and settlement here. We have appealed to
their native justice and magnanimity, and we have
conjured them by the ties of our common kindred
to disavow those usurpations which would invin-
cibly interrupt our connections and correspondence.
They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice
and consanguinity.'

" The rest of the quotation I shall not read, for there
is time yet left in this case to avert disaster." 1

1 From the peroration to Sir Edward Carson's speech in support
of the Opposition amendment, proposing to exclude Ulster from
the operation of the Home Rule Bill (House of Commons Debates,
January 1st, 1913, col. 391). The quotation is from the American
Declaration of Independence. The remainder of the passage
reads : " We must therefore acquiesce in the necessity which
denounces our Separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of
mankind — enemies in war, in peace friends."

CHAPTER V

THE FEDERAL ANALOGY

THE practical aspect of the Home Rule question has
been overlaid with academic discussions on the relative
value of federal and unitary systems of Government.

The federal theory has but little application to the
actual circumstances of Ireland ; but since the infer-
ences drawn are repeatedly put forward as conclusive
arguments for the grant of Home Rule to Ireland, it
is worth while to examine the value and relevance of
the analogy.

Much confusion has been caused by attempts to
compare the case of Ireland with the various systems
of Government prevailing in the British Colonies.
The confusion arises from two causes. In the first
place, before you can set up a comparison, you must
know what it is you are comparing.

The failure to define which of the varying forms of
Parliamentary Government that exist in the Colonies
ought to be extended to Ireland is responsible for a
good deal of the muddy argument that obscures this
aspect of the question.

The following is a typical example of the method of
reasoning : " All that Ireland asks for is what has
already been given to twenty-eight different portions
of the Empire " 1 — the argument being that, because
throughout the British Empire there are to be found

1 Mr. Redmond, Whitechapel, October 10th, 1911.

95
8-(*333)

96 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

twenty-eight different systems of separate repre-
sentative Government differing widely in the extent
of their powers and the importance of their spheres of
activity, therefore a separate Parliamentary system
should be set up in Ireland, itself differing in every
material respect from any form of Colonial Govern-
ment. The argument is disingenuous, because, in
order to make true the assertion it is necessary to
include in the twenty-eight portions of the Empire
not only the central Parliaments of the great self-
governing Dominions : Canada, Australia, South
Africa, and New Zealand — which are for all practical
purposes independent nations — but also the sub-
ordinate provincial legislatures of Canada and Australia,
the provincial councils of South Africa possessing but
little legislative authority and even archaic survivals
such as the assemblies of the Channel Islands and the
Isle of Man, the proceedings of which are of no more
importance in the Councils of the Empire than the
deliberations of a provincial town council.

The same misleading proposition has been pre-
sented by Sir John Simon, the Solicitor-General, whose
reputation for logical argument and clearness of
expression renders the solecism the more amazing.

Another variant of the argument is that since
responsible representative government * through local

1 By representative government, of course, is meant government
by a Parliament composed of elected representatives of the various
districts composing the territory under consideration, as contrasted
with a legislative assembly composed of members nominated by
the Crown or the Governor-General. By responsible government
is meant that the ministry is responsible to the majority in the
popularly elected assembly and must resign office on failing to
command the support of that majority.

THE FEDERAL ANALOGY 97

Parliaments has been conferred upon the great self-
governing Colonies, therefore a similar privilege should
be extended to Ireland. Here again the fallacy is
transparent. The real issue is obscured by the failure
to advert to the fact that Ireland enjoys responsible
government to the fullest extent through her repre-
sentatives in the House of Commons and the Irish
Peers in the House of Lords. Ireland in fact forms
part of a unitary system in the same way that South
New Zealand enjoys responsible government through
its members in the Dominion Parliament of New
Zealand. x

In fact, so far as concerns responsible government
in the United Kingdom, the Irish Members at the
moment hold the balance ; and the British public
would be better pleased if the Cabinet were less ready
to acknowledge their responsibility to the Irish
Nationalist majority in the House of Common.

The Colonies of the British Empire contain many
types of self-government, including, for example, the
fully responsible government of the Dominion of
Canada ; the representative but not responsible
government of Barbadoes — the Ministry in Barbadoes
do not retire if unable to command a majority in the
House of Representatives — and the government of
the Straits Settlement, which is neither responsible
nor representative — consisting merely of a Governor
and Legislative Council, the members of which are
nominated by the Governor.

1 The islands of North New Zealand and South New Zealand,
which comprise the Dominion of New Zealand, have no separate
provincial legislatures. The system is purely unitary under the
Dominion Parliament.

98 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

The history of the British Colonies shows that the
tendency is, in every case, as the Colony grows in
population, wealth, and importance, to advance from
government by a nominated Council to representative
but not responsible government, finally arriving at
complete self-government — both representative and
responsible.

Now the position of Ireland, as already pointed
out, is that she has the full benefits of responsible
government under the Parliament of the United
Kingdom, to which she sends 103 Members. Indeed
she enjoys wider privileges than even the great
Dominions of Canada, Australia, and South Africa,
since in the Parliament of the United Kingdom the
Irish Members assist in the control of Imperial affairs
in every corner of the globe ; while the jurisdiction of
Canada, for instance, is limited to the regulation of
Canadian affairs.

Further, it is remarkable that the transition from
representative to responsible government, which is
the natural course of evolution in Colonial constitu-
tions, took place in Ireland at the time of the Union.

Neither in the independent Grattan's Parliament
from 1782 to 1800, nor in the strictly subordinate
Parliaments which preceded it, were the Irish Ministers
responsible to the majority in the Irish House of Com-
mons. The Ministers forming the Irish Executive
were nominated by the Crown, and continued to hold
office irrespective of the state of parties in the Irish
Parliament. In 1800 by the passing of the Act of
Union Ireland, by sending her Members to the Parlia-
ment of the United Kingdom acquired a share in the

THE FEDERAL ANALOGY 99

system of responsible government, which she now
enjoys as part of the United Kingdom.

In other words in the case of Ireland unification
and the acquisition of responsible government took
place at the same moment. As will be shown later
the tendency in the Colonies is for responsible govern-
ment to precede unification. In the more important
Colonies responsible government has for a long time
been an accomplished fact, while the gradual process
of unification is still in progress. In the case of South
Africa unification took place almost immediately the
last unit — the Transvaal — had received responsible
government ; and it is remarkable that Mr. Asquith
is eager to take credit for the unification of South
Africa in almost the same breath that he proclaims
his intention to bring about the disintegration of the
United Kingdom.

The difference between the position of Ireland and
the self-governing Colonies is therefore not that
Ireland does not enjoy responsible government, but
that the Colonies have each a separate Parliament,
while the Irish Members form part of the Parliament
of the United Kingdom. Accordingly, the only pro-
positions by way of comparison with Colonial systems
of Government which are not on the face of them
fallacious are the following —

(1) Does the fact that the Dominions are governed
by Parliaments of their own, instead of sending their
representatives to London, justify the establishment
of an Irish Parliament ?

(2) How far does the fact that the provinces of
certain of the self-governing Dominions have each

100 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

their own strictly subordinate legislatures — in addi-
tion to the central Dominion Parliament — justify the
establishment of an Irish Parliament on the lines of
the present Home Rule Bill ?

In regard to the first proposition, it has been
admitted that the Liberal Party would never accept
for one moment the proposal to set up in Ireland a
practically autonomous Parliament having complete
control of Irish affairs, to the exclusion of any practical
supremacy by the British Parliament.

We are told that there is no intention of setting up
in Ireland anything but a purely subordinate Parlia-
ment subject to the actual and not merely theoretical
control of the Imperial Parliament at Westminster ;
and, indeed, the effective supremacy of the British
Parliament has been persistently urged by Ministers
in charge of the Bill as the real safeguard against abuse
of authority by the Parliament and Executive at Dublin.

But any form of government which falls short of
practical autonomy and freedom from outside inter-
ference, such as is enjoyed in Canada, Australia, and
South Africa, destroys the analogy. When we come
to examine the provisions of the present Home Rule
Bill, it will be seen that not only would the Irish
Parliament be a subordinate Parliament, but it would
be subject to interference at every turn, owing to the
many departments of Irish Government which will
still be retained by the British Parliament.

It would therefore seem that any comparison
between the autonomous Parliaments in the Colonial
Dominions and the subordinate and restricted powers
of the proposed Irish Parliament is a comparison of

THE FEDERAL ANALOGY 101

things different in their nature ; and the existence of
the former cannot properly be urged as a justification
for the latter.

Moreover, an examination of the circumstances
which existed at the time of the establishment of the
various Colonial Parliaments shows clearly that the
growth of separate institutions in the Colonies was
inevitable owing to the vast distances which sepa-
rated them from the Mother Country — distances the
importance of which in point of time has now been
greatly decreased by modern means of communication.
The remoteness of the Colonies not only made it
impossible for them to send representatives to London,
but the same cause prevented the statesmen of this
country from becoming familiar with the diverse
economic conditions overseas. l

In other words, local Parliaments were not merely
the best form of Government — they were the only
form of Government. It need hardly be said that
these conditions do not apply to Ireland. Dublin is
nine hours' journey from London.

The comparison of the Home Rule Bill with the
forms of Government said to have been " conferred " 2
upon the Colonies is, therefore, essentially misleading,
since it implies that the causes which operated to
produce separate local Parliaments in the Colonies
exist in the case of Ireland to-day.

1 It is an arguable proposition that had it been possible for the
citizens of British North America to send representatives to the
Imperial Parliament in the reign of George III, there would have
been no American War of Independence.

2 As pointed out above, the development of Colonial institutions
has been a matter of gradual growth, and not the spontaneous gift
of responsible government by the Imperial Parliament.

102 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

Finally, the existence of the provincial or State
legislatures of Canada and Australia under the central
or federal legislatures of the Dominion of Canada and
the Commonwealth of Australia are urged as a reason
for setting up a subordinate Parliament in Ireland.
Viewed as an argument in favour of the establishment
of a quasi-federal system in the British Isles, the sub-
ordinate legislatures of the Dominions may logically
be cited ; but whatever may be the merits of such
a proposal, it has no relation to the present scheme
of Home Rule.

It is true that there have been vague aUusions by
Members of the Liberal Party to the ultimate establish-
ment of a federal system throughout the United
Kingdom, commonly referred to as " Home Rule All
Round." No details have been given ; but, pre-
sumably, the phrase " Home Rule All Round " is
meant to indicate the establishment of separate
Parliaments for England, Scotland, and even Wales —
as well as Ireland — together with a federal Parliament
at London representing the four countries.

No concrete proposition has been put forward even
in general terms. There has been no indication that
such a scheme is to be introduced either in the near
or distant future, or that any responsible statesman
has even troubled to work out the bare framework of
the new Constitution. One may, therefore, be par-
doned for assuming that the phrase " Home Rule All
Round " has been invented as an opiate to soothe
the consciences of those Liberals who are inclined to
look askance at the separatist principle involved in
the establishment of an Irish Parliament.

THE FEDERAL ANALOGY 103

In any case, no serious advocate of a sound federal
system would start by giving to one of the proposed
federal units — Ireland — a lop-sided constitution con-
taining features which are incompatible with federal
principles. In the first place, the very term " federa-
tion " conveys the idea of the coming together, under
a loose form of Union, of a number of independent
States ; in other words, federation is commonly under-
stood as a system in which a number of units, formerly
separate and independent, are united by a " fcedus "
or treaty of Union. To apply the term to a proposal
to split up and decentralize the Government of a
number of units at present under a common Govern-
ment is an abuse of language. On examining any of
the existing federal systems, it will be found that,
without exception, they have been built up by the
combination of separate units, for example : the
United States of America, the German Empire, the
Dominion of Canada, and the Commonwealth of
Australia.

This question has no real connection with the Home
Rule proposals ; but, in any case, there are grave
objections to the establishment of separate legis-
latures in the different parts of the United Kingdom
— England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.1

The circumstances are entirely different from those
existing in the Dominions. There is neither the
diversity of local conditions nor the distance between
the various parts which caused the retention of the

1 Mr. Winston Churchill suggests an even minuter subdivision.
He proposes separate Parliaments for Lancashire, Yorkshire, and
so forth, to the number of ten or twelve, but no one is disposed to
take his suggestions seriously.

104 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

provincial and State legislatures in Canada and
Australia respectively. Moreover, the federalisation
of the United Kingdom would be centrifugal ; while
the tendency in the Colonies is essentially centripetal.

On the other hand, there is much to be said for the
policy of relieving the Imperial Parliament of the
congestion of local business by delegating wide
administrative powers to local bodies — elected by
popular vote — subject always to the absolute right
of Parliament to control them and at any time to
withdraw or modify the powers entrusted to them.1
This, however, has no connection with the Home Rule
question. The fate of the Irish Councils Bill (1907)
has proved that no such scheme would satisfy the
aspirations of the Nationalist agitators.

Assuming, however, for the sake of argument, that
" Home Rule All Round," or the conversion of the
United Kingdom into a quasi-federal State by a pro-
cess of decentralisation, would be a desirable object,
it is apparent that it could only be done by simul-
taneously setting up the local legislatures in England,
Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, each with co-ordinate
authority in their respective spheres, with a central
federal Parliament in London. In other words, it is
ludicrous to attempt to set up a federation by a
haphazard piece-work system, or to construct one of
the parts without attempting to determine at least
the framework of the whole.

The anti-federal character of the Home Rule Bill is

1 Experiments in this direction have proved successful, e.g., the
Irish Council of Agriculture under the Agriculture and Technical
Instruction Act, 1899.

THE FEDERAL ANALOGY 105

demonstrated by two of its features which the Govern-
ment, by the desire of the Nationalist Party, have
obstinately refused to alter. In every existing
federation there is a Customs union and a Postal union.

Neither of these conditions have been observed in
the Home Rule Bill, nor is it suggested that the Irish
constitution is to undergo revision in two of its most
important features at some indefinite date when local
legislatures are set up in England, Scotland, and
Wales. As a matter of fact, the Nationalist Party
have insisted on the erection of a Customs barrier and
the control of the Post Office ; and they appear to
attach so much importance to these matters that
it is impossible to believe that they would lightly
relinquish these two characteristics of an " independent
nation."

On the other hand, if Ireland, under the proposed
Irish Parliament, is seriously to be put forward as an
example of a federal State, the British Parliament will
occupy the anomalous position of being at the same
time the central federal authority in its relation to
Ireland, and of being the local legislature for England,
Scotland, and Wales.

In the former case, there being 567 Members from
England, Scotland, and Wales, Ireland as a federal
unit would be insufficiently represented. In the
latter case, it is impossible to justify the retention of
the forty- two Irish Members who, according to the
present Bill, are to remain at Westminster. In fact,
the further we attempt to apply the federal theory,
the more absurd and incongruous the patchwork
scheme appears.

106 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

While it is futile to compare the position of Ireland
in relation to England with that of the self-governing
Dominions, or to suggest that Ireland under the
Home Rule Bill would occupy the position of a
federal State analogous to the subordinate pro-
vincial legislatures of Canada, the various types of
Colonial government have a distinct bearing on the
Home Rule problem, having regard to the causes
which produced the diversity of type in each case.

In order to set at rest once and for all the con-
fusion of ideas which is produced by a general refer-
ence to the federal character of the constitutions of
the self-governing Dominions, it is desirable to refer
briefly to the main characteristics of the form of
government in Australia, Canada, South Africa, and
New Zealand.

The Government of the Commonwealth of Australia
is a loose form of federation. That is to say, the
individual States enjoy a position of considerable
independence and freedom from interference by the
federal or Commonwealth Parliament.

The powers of the Commonwealth Parliament are
strictly limited to certain spheres of government.1
The residuum of power is left to the State legislatures,
which enjoy complete freedom of action outside the
strictly limited functions of the Commonwealth
Parliament. They have concurrent powers of legisla-
tion in regard to those matters which are within the
jurisdiction of the Commonwealth Parliament ; but, in

1 Under the Commonwealth Act, the Commonwealth Parliament
has power to legislate on thirty-nine classes of subjects specifically
set out in the Act.

THE FEDERAL ANALOGY 107

case of conflict of laws, the Commonwealth laws
prevail.

The Government of the Dominion of Canada, on
the other hand, is a close federation. The provincial
legislatures of Canada have certain matters exclusively
assigned to them upon which they have power to
legislate. The Dominion Parliament, on the other hand,
has power to make laws for the peace, order, and good
government of Canada on all matters not exclusively
assigned to the provincial legislatures — that is to say,
the residuum of power is in the hands of the
Dominion Parliament, which consequently exercises
far greater control and has a much wider sphere of
activity than the Commonwealth Parliament in
Australia.

Next, the Union of South Africa is not a federation
at all, but a unitary system with the Dominion Parlia-
ment at Cape Town, and an administrator and a
provincial council in each of the provinces. In the
words of the South Africa Act, 1909, the then sepa-
rate and independent Colonies were " united in a
legislative Union under one Government under the
name of the Union of South Africa." The provincial
councils as their name implies are not legislatures.
They have power to make " ordinances " on a strictly
limited class of local matters and these are valid only
so far as they are not repugnant to any Act of the
Union Parliament. In fact they approximate to the
position of the bye-laws of a county council in England.

Finally, in New Zealand the constitution is as
strictly unitary as that under which we at present
live in the United Kingdom. The two islands

108 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

separated by a narrow strip of water — just as
Ireland is separated from England by the St.
George's Channel — are subject to the common
Government of the Parliament of the Dominion of
New Zealand.

If we examine the reasons which have produced
these four different types of Government — from the
loosest form of federalism to the closest form of
unitary government — it is apparent that the particular
form of government is in each case due to economic
and geographical conditions ; that there has been in
each case a tendency to centralize ; and that the
development towards unification has been assisted
or retarded in a direct ratio to the capacity of the
inhabitants to overcome economic and geographical
obstacles, making due allowance for the influence of
racial differences and general historical conditions.

In illustration of this I cannot do better than
quote a passage from a masterly essay by Mr. L. S.
Amery, M.P.,1 on the subject —

" Each of these types is the outcome of peculiar
geographical, economic, and historical conditions.
To understand the federal system of Australia it is
essential to remember that till comparatively recent
times Australia consisted, to all intents, of four or
five seaport towns, each with its own tributary agri-
cultural and mining area, strung out at distances
varying from 500 to 1,300 miles along the southern
and eastern third of a coast line of nearly 9,000 miles,
looped round an unexplored and reputedly uninhabit-
able interior. Each of these seaports traded directly

1 Among the collection of essays in Against Home Rule (1912).

THE FEDERAL ANALOGY 109

with the United Kingdom and Europe in competition
with the others. With economic motives for union
practically non-existent, with external factors awaken-
ing a general apprehension rather than confronting
Australia with any immediate danger, it was impossible
to find the driving power to overcome local jealousies
sufficient to secure more than a minimum of Union.
The Commonwealth Constitution is a makeshift which,
as the internal trade of Australia grows and as railway
communications are developed, will inevitably be
amended in the direction of increasing the power of
the Commonwealth and diminishing that of the States.
In Canada, the economic link between Canada proper
and the Maritime Provinces was, before confederation,
almost as weak as that of Australia. British Columbia,
which it was hoped to include in the confederation,
was then separated by a journey of months from
Eastern Canada, and was, indeed, much nearer to
Australia or New Zealand. Quebec, with its racial
and religious peculiarities, added another problem.
That the Confederation was nevertheless such a close
and strong one was due both to the menace of
American power in the South and to the terrible
example of the weakness of the American constitution,
as made manifest by the Civil War. Yet even so,
Sir John Macdonald, the father of Confederation,
frankly declared the federal constitution a necessary
evil —

" ' As regards the comparative advantages of a
legislative and a federal Union, I have never hesitated
to state my own opinions. . . I have always con-
tended that if we could agree to have one government

110 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

and one Parliament ... it would be the best, the
cheapest, the most vigorous, the strongest system of
government we could adopt/

" This also was the view of the framers of the South
African Union. The circumstances of South Africa
enabled them to carry it into effect. For all its
extent South Africa is geographically a single
homogeneous country, with no marked internal
boundaries. It is peopled by two white races, every-
where intermixed in varying proportions and nowhere
separated into large compact blocks. The immense
preponderance and central position of the Rand
mining industry makes South Africa practically a
single economic system. The very bitterness of the
long political and racial struggle which had preceded
intensified the argument for really effective union.

" If we compare the conditions in the United King-
dom with those of the Dominions, it is obvious at
once that there is no possible analogy with the con-
ditions of Canada or Australia, but a considerable
analogy with South Africa and New Zealand. The
British Isles are but little larger than the New Zealand
group, and much more compact and homogeneous.
Their close economic intercourse, the presence of two
races with a history of strife behind them, but com-
pelled by their inextricable geographical blending to
confront the necessity of union, are reproduced in the
conditions of South Africa."

In conclusion, the history of the past fifty years,
and particularly of the present century, has witnessed
the strengthening of economic ties between the

THE FEDERAL ANALOGY 111

separate provinces of the great overseas Dominions and
between the Dominions themselves and the Mother
Country. Is Ireland to be the one unit to stand in
the way of the economic consolidation of the Empire ?
It cannot be too strongly emphasised that by revert-
ing to a subordinate Parliament at Dublin we should
be resuming the conditions responsible for the evils
which were at the root of Ireland's retrograde con-
dition at the time of the Union — and were maintained
for many years after the Union owing to a combina-
tion of natural disasters, economic blunders of British
statesmen, and the misguided agitation of fanatical
separatists.

The day of Ireland's regeneration has arrived.
It is for us to see that Ireland is not thrust back to
the position of jealousy, suspicion, and unequal com-
petition which enchained her in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries.

9— (3333)

CHAPTER VI

NAVAL AND MILITARY PROBLEMS

ONE of the greatest — if not the greatest — living
expert in naval strategy has written —

" It is impossible for a military man or a statesman
with appreciation of military conditions to look at the
map and not perceive that the ambition of the Irish
Separatists realised would be even more threatening
to the national life than the secession of the South
was to that of the American Union. It would be
deadlier also to Imperial aspirations ; for Ireland, by
geographical position, lies across and 'controls the
communications of Great Britain with all the outside
world — save only that considerable, but far from
preponderant, portion which borders the North Sea
and the Baltic. Independent and hostile it would
manacle Great Britain, which at present is, and for
years to come must remain by long odds the most
powerful member of the federation, if that take form.
The Irish question, therefore, is vitally important,
not to Great Britain only, but to the Colonies. The
legislative supremacy of the British Parliament,
against the assertion of which the American Colonists
revolted, and which to-day would be found intolerable
in Canada and Australia, cannot be yielded in the
case of an island where independent action might very
well be attended with fatal consequences to its partner.

112

NAVAL AND MILITARY PROBLEMS 113

The instrument for such action, in the shape of an
independent Parliament, could not safely be trusted,
even to avowed friends." 1

It is the purpose of this chapter to indicate the
extent of the risks involved in the acceptance of the
present Home Rule Bill ; and with that end in view
it is necessary to premise both a state of war between
England and a foreign power and at least a part of
Ireland hostile or disaffected. The possibility of war
no one will deny, and the latter assumption does not
involve a wide stretch of the imagination. When
considering the conditions of national safety even
remotely possible risks must be contemplated. Even
if we disregard the Gladstonian period of Fenian
agitation and confine attention to the present century,
the history of the past thirteen years shows that the
risk of a hostile Ireland is far from remote.

The attitude of many Irishmen at the time of the
South African War is eloquent testimony of the fact.
The following resolution was adopted by no less than
twenty-seven County Councils outside Ulster, com-
posed, as explained in a previous chapter, of nominees
of the Nationalist Party —

" That we, the members of the Mayo County Council,
congratulate the gallant Boers on their brilliant defeats
of the troops of the pirate Saxon. That we hope that
a just Providence will strengthen the arms of these
farmer fighters in their brave struggle for their inde-
pendence. And we trust that as Babylon fell, and as
Rome fell, so also may fall the race and nation whose

1 Admiral Mahan of the United States' Navy, in the National
Review, May, 1902.

114 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

creed is the creed of greed and whose God is the God
of Mammon."

It will also be remembered that an " Irish Brigade "
was formed — which took part in the War — fighting on
the side of the Boers. The leader, " Colonel " Lynch
— who was captured by the British and brought to
England — was tried for treason and convicted. By
the clemency of the Unionist Government, the death
sentence was remitted, and after a short term of
imprisonment Lynch was released. He now repre-
sents the Nationalist constituency of West Clare in
the Parliament of the United Kingdom.1

Twelve years is a short time in the life-history of
a nation. It is true the leaders of the Nationalist
Party are at the moment profuse in professions of
loyalty at a time when they come, cap in hand,
begging a new constitution from the British people.
But surely that does not justify the suggestion that
their misdeeds should be forgotten, nor is it possible
to ignore the lessons of the past in estimating the
risk of danger in the future.

Moreover, even if we could accept the alleged
loyalty of Irish Nationalists at its face value, it must
be borne in mind that there is at this day, in the
South and West of Ireland, a strong section of

1 Speeches by Nationalist Members of Parliament denouncing
recruiting for the British Army and acclaiming British reverses
were a common occurrence at the time. The following declaration
is significant and not easily forgotten : Mr. John Dillon, M.P., in
the House of Commons, April 17th, 1902, " I take the opportunity
of admitting in this House that I am intensely disloyal ; and the
Chief Secretary himself knows that in making that admission I am
giving the best and most adequate expression I could give to the
sentiments of more than three-fourths of the Irish nation." — Parl.
Debates, April 17th, 1902, vol. 106, col. 599.

NAVAL AND MILITARY PROBLEMS 115

avowedly separatist opinion ; and it is not a large
assumption that such extreme views would be
represented in the Irish Parliament.1

The following extract from a monthly paper2
published in Cork and Dublin is typical of the attitude
of the extremist section —

" Of course we are ' a part of the Empire,' and all
that sort of thing — and Mr. Asquith says we are a
loyal part — and Mr. Redmond is busy cementing the
Union — but what are we going to do ? War between
England and Germany is practically inevitable and
its issue is uncertain. When it comes Germany will
be as strong as England on paper. Whether she will
be weaker or stronger in efficiency and fighting power
time alone will tell. But these two Powers are going
to fight for the hegemony of Europe, and the only
thing that seems certain about the result is that the
longer it is postponed the smaller are England's
chances of victory. . . . Ireland within this next few
years will have the greatest opportunity for asserting
her independence that has come since the days of
Napoleon. She can use that opportunity or she can
let it slip — but which is it going to be ? Think well
on it, men of Ireland, and make up your minds — there
is not much time to lose. And on your decision it
will depend whether Ireland will be in twenty years
time a free Republic or an exhausted province."

Comment is unnecessary. Add to this the manifest
opportunities for friction contained in the complicated

1 For an account of the various Separatist organisations in Ireland
see Cambray's Irish Affairs, p. 123, et seq.

2 Irish Freedom, January, 1913.

116 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

and impracticable provisions of the Home Rule Bill,
and the public refusal of some even of the members
of the official Nationalist Party to regard it as a final
settlement of their demands, and it is easy to foresee
the possibility of a strongly anti-English majority in
the Irish Parliament in the face of the refusal of the
British Parliament to grant further concessions.

In short, it is impossible for anyone with a know-
ledge of the past history of the relations between
England and Ireland to deny that there is a risk —
and Unionists think a grave risk — of pronounced
hostility in Ireland should we become involved in war
with a foreign power.

It is obvious that the Irish Executive under an
independent Parliament would be better able to
render assistance to a foreign enemy than the
Executive under the hybrid constitution to be set
up under the present Home Rule Bill. By Clause 2
(2) and (3) of the Bill the Irish Parliament would have
no power to make laws with regard to peace or war,
the Navy or Army, or any naval or military matter :
the general intention being to place naval and military
affairs outside the jurisdiction of the Irish Government.

Nevertheless, apart from the mere question of the
illegality of raising an armed force, the power to con-
trol the general administration of the country would
enable the Irish Government seriously to embarrass
the operations of the naval and military authorities.
It needs no argument to show that, assuming the
Irish Government to be animated with the hostile
sentiments which existed in many parts of Ireland
at the time of the South African War, the only

NAVAL AND MILITARY PROBLEMS 117

safe course in the event of war with a European
power would be to supersede the civil Govern-
ment of the country by a military dictatorship.
It is beside the point to argue that such senti-
ments have in the past existed in Ireland when
England has been at war and will have no greater
force if Home Rule is established. The point
is that a hostile Irish Parliament in control of the
administration all over the country would be able
to translate into action the sentiments which under
the present unitary system do no immediate harm
owing to the lack of an organisation sufficiently
powerful to give effect to them.

Consider the position of an army in Ireland
hampered by the disaffection of the populace urged
on by the instigation of a Parliament and Executive
imbued with anti-English sentiments.

For example, the control of telegraphs between
places inside Ireland would be in the hands of Irish
officials. Upon the outbreak of war it is probable
that the military would assume control of telegraphs
at all important points. Imagine the effect produced
by the Irish authorities declining to hand over their
lines, or by tampering with the system before giving
up possession.

Again, the BiU gives the Irish Parliament control
over railways and power to nationalise them. All
transport would therefore be in their hands, together
with the supervision of tunnels and bridges.

To put the matter in the most favourable light, if
the commander of an army operating in home country
is unable to rely upon the goodwill and assistance of

118 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

the civil authorities, he is deprived of an important
advantage ; while if for apathy we substitute deliberate
obstruction and interference the consequences are
almost as grave as open insurrection.

The naval problem is even more serious. Broadly
speaking the strategic position of Ireland is important
to an enemy in two respects. The first consideration
is the possibility of invading and occupying Ireland
for use as a base for attacking England. It has been
argued that an enemy desiring to invade England
would select the speediest route for arriving at the
heart of the country, while the invasion of Ireland
would involve re-embarkation before England could
be reached. A hostile invader coming from the North
of Europe — such as Germany or Russia — to effect an
invasion in this way would either have to force the
English Channel and keep it open for long enough to
allow the passage of the troopships containing the
invading army — a hazardous and almost impossible
undertaking in the most favourable circumstances —
or else would have to take the North-about route
between the coast of Norway and the Shetland
Islands and skirt the North of Scotland before reach-
ing Ireland. It might not be difficult by hugging the
Scandinavian coast and proceeding to the extreme
north before steaming westward, to evade the British
fleet in the North Sea and off the coast of Scotland,
but this would involve a long sea passage with troops.
As surprise is of the essence of invasion, the advantage
of the quick passage to the flat east coast of England
renders this the more probable plan.

In regard to the choice of alternative routes the

NAVAL AND MILITARY PROBLEMS 119

argument is no doubt sound, but there appears to be
no reason why an enemy should not adopt both plans
simultaneously. Given sufficient troops and secure
of a friendly reception in Ireland, it would not be
unreasonable for Germany, for example, to send a
force by the North-about route to occupy Ireland and
establish a base there, while engaging the energies of
Britain's defensive forces by a raid on the east coast
of England. The plan would have the additional
merit of opening the attack upon England from two
sides at once and preventing the concentration of
forces in the North Sea. If the invading force were
unable to rely upon the co-operation of the Irish to
allow it to obtain a firm footing in the country, the
scheme would be too hazardous, because the invading
force would be too far removed from its base to main-
tain a sustained attack ; and, if repulsed, would have
to choose between surrender and putting to sea again.
With a base of operations on the Irish coast and
assisted by the Irish Government with the whole
resources of the island at its disposal, the enemy
would be able to establish itself and await a
favourable opportunity for renewing the attack.

Theoretical arguments based upon hypothetical
premises are necessarily open to criticism on that
ground ; and the above suggestions are put forward
by a layman with some diffidence merely to indicate
the essential weakness of our defensive position, if the
Government of Ireland is to be in the hands of a
disloyal and disaffected Parliament.

The actual method by which an invading force
could best avail itself of Irish co-operation is a matter

120 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

for the decision of naval and military experts, but it
cannot be gainsaid that a hostile Ireland would offer
considerable temptation to an invading force to avail
itself of the weakest spot in the defensive scheme of
a disunited Kingdom.

The second point concerns the supply of food to
England from abroad in time of war. Eminent
authorities have pointed out the danger of allowing
Ireland to become a possible base for the enemy's
commerce-destroying cruisers. *

It is hardly necessary to emphasise that in the
event of a great European war England would stand
to suffer more by the stoppage of sea-borne food sup-
plies than from the effects of a successful raid.
Starvation would be a deadlier weapon than invasion.
Practically the whole of the foreign food supplies
come up the English Channel, either across the
Atlantic or through the Bay of Biscay from the
Mediterranean.

Having regard to the magnificent natural harbours
on the South and West coasts of Ireland, 2 which might
be used as bases in which to shelter fast commerce-
destroying cruisers and converted merchant vessels
of the enemy, the strategic importance of the island
is at once apparent.

It would be possible, for instance, for an enemy with
the assistance of the Irish Government to accumulate

1 See Lord Charles Beresford in Against Home Rule. Lord
Ellenborough and others in the United Service Magazine for
November-December, 1912.

* For instance, Bantry Bay, Kenmare River, Dingle Bay, the
Shannon, Galway Bay, the Killaries, Clew Bay, Donegal, and Lough
Swilly.

NAVAL AND MILITARY PROBLEMS 121

stores, coal, and ammunition at various points
on the Western Coast before the outbreak of war.
With the active help of the Irish Executive it would
not require much ingenuity to escape the detection
of the British naval authorities. Hostile cruisers
scouring the Atlantic in search of food-laden vessels
would be far removed from their own base ; and the
advantage of being able to coal, make slight repairs,
and take in stores and ammunition at a comparatively
short distance from the scene of operations
would enable them to remain a much longer time
at sea.1

Such considerations would certainly attract the
attention of the enemy's war staff ; and were the
Irish Parliament and Executive disaffected at the
moment of a European crisis, an endeavour would
no doubt be made by the enemy to secure their
co-operation.

In making the above analysis of the position, con-
clusions have been based upon the present distribution
of forces in Europe. In the at present unlikely event
of a re-shuffling of the alliances between the great
Powers, other considerations might arise to increase
the strategic importance of Ireland, which is in some
respects less than it was in the days when we had to
measure our strength against France and Spain. On
the other hand, in whatever way the balance of power
may be arranged in Europe in future, nothing can
alter the menace of a hostile Ireland stretched as it

1 The fear of starvation would not affect the Irish to the same
extent. Being an agricultural country, they would be able to live
on their own produce.

122 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

were like a barrier between England and her food
supplies from America and the Argentine.

It is important to note in this connection that in
the event of an attack by an enemy from the East of
Europe, the tendency will be for commerce, for the
sake of greater security, to concentrate in the western
ports of England and Scotland — Bristol, Liverpool,
and Glasgow — each of them only separated from the
Irish coast by a short sea passage. The moral effect
of a hostile resolution by the Irish Parliament would
be severely felt in shipping circles in consequence.

Prices would rise immediately and it would be
difficult to avert a panic.

Of equal importance with the practical assistance
which an Irish Government could render would be
the moral effect of an open declaration of sympathy
with a foreign enemy. At the most critical stage of
diplomatic negotiations, when the question of peace
or war hung in the balance or at the turning-point of
a campaign — the expressed hostility of the Irish
Parliament might be sufficient to turn the balance
against England.

It only remains to add that the present Home Rule
proposals are regarded by many as the first step
towards practical independence — " England's difficulty
is Ireland's opportunity." In the event of interna-
tional complications the menace of the open hostility
of the Irish Parliament would be a powerful lever to
extract further concessions from the British people as
the price of quiescence.

The case of the Colonies is no analogy. Their
loyalty is a byword. Apart from that, they do

NAVAL AND MILITARY PROBLEMS 123

not lie at our door. The disaffection of a Colony
separated by thousands of miles from the Mother
Country would count for little in comparison with
that of Ireland.

A rebellious Irish Parliament would be a danger
spot at the heart of the Empire.

CHAPTER VII

UNIONIST CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY

IT is not within the compass of this work to give more
than a brief outline of the reforms introduced and
carried out by the Unionist Party. Limits of space
prevent a detailed account of the legislative and
administrative changes which have effected the com-
plete change in Irish conditions referred to at the
beginning of this book.

With the exception of the manufacturing districts
in the North-East agriculture is the main industry
of Ireland. Unionist policy has therefore been
chiefly concerned with the improvement of agri-
cultural conditions. This object has been achieved
by a combination of State action and private effort.
During the greater part of last century Ireland was
abandoned to the laisser faire methods of Mr. Gladstone
and his predecessors.

The task of solving the problem of Irish discontent
by the help of State enterprise and British credit was
begun by the passage of the Ashbourne Land Purchase
Act under Lord Salisbury's Ministry in 1885, and was
continued by Mr. Arthur Balfour during the time
when he was Chief Secretary from 1887 to 1891.
He began with the construction of a system of light
railways 1 to the impoverished districts on the Western
coast, and continued with the creation of the Congested
Districts Board. Since that time successive Unionist

1 Light Railways Act, 1890, carried in the face of the persistent
obstruction of the Nationalist Party.

124

UNIONIST CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY 125

Ministries have carried out a number of reforms, of
which the more important are given below.

CONGESTED DISTRICTS BOARD

This Board was established by Mr. A. J. Balfour,
in 1891, for the purpose of improving the conditions
of the agricultural population in the poorest parts of
Ireland — particularly in the West and South-West
districts.

The term " Congested Districts " must not be con-
fused with the congestion of population common in
the slums of large towns. It relates in this connec-
tion to the subdivision of agricultural land among
peasant farmers in such small quantities as to make
the holdings " un-economic."

The comparative density of the population, coupled
with an obsolete system of tenancy, caused the sub-
division of the land into such small and scattered
holdings that it was impossible for it to be properly
farmed. 'From this cause and an appalling ignorance
of modern agricultural science the land gave a very
small return for the industry employed on it.

Part of the work of the Congested Districts Board
has therefore been to purchase " congested " land,
to put it into a proper condition, re-arrange the
holdings, and migrate part of the population to less
thickly populated districts.

An equally important part of their functions has
been the improvement of methods of farming and the
re-habilitation of declining industries.

The schemes carried out by the Board include such
matters as the introduction of modern machinery, sold

126 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

by the Board below cost price ; the provision of pure
seed and good manure ; assistance to tenants to pro-
vide proper farm buildings and improve the sanitary
conditions of their cottages ; the construction of
roads ; classes and practical demonstration in agri-
cultural science ; the developments of new industries,
particularly among women and girls ; the promotion
of co-operation and credit banks ; and the re-establish-
ment of the fishing industry on a sound foundation.

An extensive enquiry was made, under the present
Liberal Government, by a Royal Commission in 1908
into the operations of the Congested Districts Board and
the work done was found to be so satisfactory, that the
Board has now been given new and extended powers. 1

The present income of the Board is over £250,000,
in addition to any money which may be required for
land purchase.

The success of this part of Unionist policy can only
be fully appreciated by those who knew the state of
the poorer parts of the country before the Congested
Districts Board was established. It has effected a
complete change in those districts and many a
small farmer will be found to-day who takes no
interest in party politics, but is ready to bless the
name of Balfour.

THE IRISH DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

AND TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION
This Department was established in 1899 by an
Act of Parliament introduced by the Unionist Govern-
ment then in power. The Department is a new
1 See Dudley, Commission Report. Cd. 4,097.

'

THE RIGHT HON. A. J. BALFOUR, M.P.

Prime Minister in the late Unionist Administration.
The founder of Irish prosperity.

UNIONIST CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY 127

experiment in legislation in this country, and owes
its origin to Sir Horace Plunkett — the founder, in
1894, of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society.
In the autumn of 1895 he issued an invitation, in the
form of an open letter, to the representatives of all
shades of political opinion * in Ireland to form a
committee for the purpose of enquiring into the means
by which the Government could best assist the develop-
ment of agriculture in Ireland. This committee,
known as the Recess Committee — because it met
during the Parliamentary recess — in less than a year
issued a report, based upon extensive investigations
into systems of State aid combined with voluntary
effort existing in other European countries.

This report formed the foundation of the Act of
1899, 2 and the department was set up with Sir
Horace Plunkett as the first vice-president. There is
no room in this short outline for a detailed examina-
tion of the measure ; but broadly speaking the
object of the new Department was to achieve for the
whole of Ireland the successful development of agri-
cultural science and stimulation of co-operative effort
which was already being accomplished by the Con-
gested Districts Board in the impoverished districts
of Western Ireland.

The work of the Department falls roughly under
two heads : on the one hand to exercise a genera]

1 It is notable that Mr. Justin McCarthy, who was then the leader
of the official Nationalist Party, declined to co-operate because he
interpreted Sir Horace Plunkett's letter as " the expression of a
belief that if your policy could be successfully carried out, the Irish
people would cease to desire Home Rule."

8 Prepared by Mr. Gerald Balfour, brother of the late Prime
Minister — and at the time Chief Secretary for Ireland.

io— (2333)

128 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

supervision over Irish agriculture and to enquire into
the methods best suited to Irish conditions ; and on
the other to educate the Irish agricultural population
in modern agricultural science.

The wide scope of the work of the Department may
be gathered from the " purposes of agriculture and
other rural industries " for which under the Act the
funds of the Department may be expended.

In the wording of the Act, these purposes are —

" the aiding, improving, and developing of agri-
culture, horticulture, forestry, dairying, the breed-
ing of horses, cattle, and other live stock and poultry,
home and cottage industries, the preparation and
cultivation of flax, inland fisheries, and any indus-
tries immediately connected with and subservient
to any of the said matters, and any instruction
relating thereto, and the facilitating of the carriage
and distribution of produce."

It would be difficult to over-estimate the value of the
educational work done by the Department through
classes and itinerant instructors in every part of the
country.

It is important to observe that care has been taken
to keep in close touch with local conditions by working
as far as possible in conjunction with existing voluntary
organisations and local authorities. In this respect,
the Department receives the assistance of the Council
of Agriculture, an advisory body set up by the Act —
two-thirds of the members of which are elected by the
County Councils and one-third by the Department.

The working of the Department was the subject of

UNIONIST CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY 129

an enquiry by a Departmental Committee under the
Liberal Government in 1907, who reported favour-
ably both as regards the substance of the Act itself
and the way in which it was carried out.

LAND PURCHASE

The land purchase system is the keystone of Irish
prosperity. The other reforms mentioned in this
chapter have done much to help the solution of the
Irish question, but it is doubtful whether without
land purchase they would have had any permanent
effect. For more than two centuries the land ques-
tion had been at the root of Irish discontent and
agitation. It would take too long to trace the failure
of the Irish land system from the absentee landlords
of the eighteenth century — with the vicious system
of " middlemen " management and successive sub-
lettings l — to the disastrous policy attempted by
Mr. Gladstone of creating a permanent dual owner-
ship shared between landlord and tenant and equally
unsatisfactory to both. The acute depression in
Ireland in the nineteenth century was due to this
unsound system of land tenure, combined with the
effect of the introduction of " free trade " upon a
country whose main industry is agriculture.

The land purchase system is based upon the volun-
tary agreement between landlord and tenant for the
purchase outright by the latter of the land comprising
his holding. The purchase money is advanced by the

1 "It is well known that over the most part of the country*
the lands are sublet six deep, so that those who actually labour
it are squeezed to the very utmost." — Official report in the
eighteenth century.

130 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

British Government, who are obviously able to borrow
at a lower rate of interest than the tenant. The tenant
pays back the sum advanced in annual instalments,
which are apportioned between interest on the advance
and a sinking fund for the repayment of the capital.
The bargain is satisfactory to the landlord, because
he obtains a lump sum in cash and is relieved of the
management of his estates with the constant menace
of agrarian trouble. It is satisfactory to the tenant,
because while he becomes actual owner of the soil, the
terminable annuity is less than the rent formerly paid
to the landlord. The secret of the success of land
purchase lies in the stimulus of ownership, based on
the knowledge of the peasant proprietor that he will
be able to reap the full reward of whatever energy and
industry he puts into the cultivation of his land. In
addition to this, tl\e desire to protect his own property
is a powerful inducement to the small owner to range
himself on the side of law and order. The theory of
land purchase was, it is true, expounded by John
Bright in the seventies ; but, for lack of machinery
to carry it into effect, it received no practical applica-
tion until the Land Purchase Acts under the Con-
servative Governments in 1885 and 1889. x It would
be out of place to describe here the gradual expansion
of the system in the Balfour Acts of 1891 and 1896.
The full development was not reached till the Irish
Land Act of 1903. 2 This Act, backed by eighteen
years* experience of the preceding Acts, was founded

1 The Ashbourne Acts.

2 Commonly called the Wyndham Act after the Rt. Hon. George
Wyndham, M.P., who was Chief Secretary for Ireland at the time,
and responsible for the preparation of the scheme.

UNIONIST CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY 131

on the recommendations of the historic conference of
representatives of landlords and tenants in 1902.
Shortly stated, the scheme of the Act was as follows —

(1) The cash payment to the landlords was calcu-
lated on such a basis as to yield in sound securities
an income of 90 per cent, of their former rents.

(2) The tenant's annual instalment was to be at
the rate of 3J per cent, of the purchase price, divided
into 2J per cent, for interest and -J- per cent, for
sinking fund.

(3) The annual instalments were to continue for
62£ years.

(4) There was a bonus of £12,000,000 to be pro-
vided by the British Government to supplement the
amount which the Government were able to borrow.

(5) Wherever the annual instalment was sub-
stantially less than the rent the Government agreed
to accept the land as security for the payment of the
instalments, without the delay of a lengthy enquiry
into the value of the security.

That the Act was satisfactory to both landlord and
tenant is shown by the fact that during the five and
a half years from April 30th, 1904, to October 31st,
1909, the number of purchase agreements lodged
under the 1903 Act in regard to estates to be sold
direct from landlord to tenant was 216,737, and the total
amount of loans applied for was 73£ million pounds.1
But the pace was too fast to please the Nationalists.
Mr. Dillon, who had never been a party to the Con-
ference and bitterly opposed its findings, began a

1 Mr. Birrell, Chief Secretary for Ireland, in the House of Commons
October 28th, 1908, and July 29th, 1910.

132 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

policy of "persistent obstruction to the scheme — at
first without much success. Eventually the whole
Nationalist Party adopted Mr. Dillon's attitude,
although Mr. John Redmond himself and other
members of the party had taken part in the con-
ference and had joined in the solemn agreement
between landlords and tenants.

Mr. William O'Brien, M.P., and a handful of his
friends honourably adhered to the compact and
retired from the party in disgust at the breach of
faith of Mr. Redmond and his colleagues. The
reason for the Nationalist betrayal is not far to seek.
The demand for Home Rule cannot thrive under a
contented Ireland and in Mr. Dillon's own words,
the Act " has worked too smoothly — far too smoothly,
to my mind." 1

Throughout the long controversy on the Home
Rule question it has always been the policy of the
Nationalist Party to couple the demand for an Irish
Parliament with some substantial source of discontent.
The land problem has given them ample opportunity.
Faced with the disappearance of the land question,
they appreciate that the material for agitation will be
exhausted — the driving power behind the Home Rule
cry will be gone. Accordingly, it has been their
consistent policy to obstruct reform ; and in the few
cases in which they have been tempted to co-operate,
the successful results of their co-operation have brought
about a swift repentance.

However in spite of Nationalist obstruction the
Act of 1903 satisfied both landlord and tenant. But

1 At Swinford, September 10th, 1906.

UNIONIST CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY 133

in 1909, owing to the fall in gilt-edged securities, the
present Government being no longer able to borrow
at a sufficiently low rate of interest were obliged to
introduce a fresh Land Bill amending the finance of
the 1903 Act. The Nationalist Party were not slow
to seize the opportunity. Pressure was put upon the
Liberal Government to draft the new Bill in such a
way that ever since land purchase has been brought
to a standstill. The falling off in the number of
agreements made and advances applied for was
immediate and remarkable.

NUMBER OF AGREEMENTS LODGED

Act of 1903. Total. Average

In 6 years from April 30th, 1904, per annum,

to October 31st, 1909 .. . . 216,737 36,000

Act of 1909.
In 2 years from December 3rd,

1909, to December 3rd, 1911 8,992 4,490

Taking the comparison another way, up to June,
1912, under the 1903 Act the total amount advanced
by way of loan was 54 million pounds sterling, while
under the 1909 Act the amount is only just over
1J millions.1 The failure of the Act of 1909 was
only to be expected. The cardinal features of the
1903 Act were abandoned in breach of the compact
between landlord and tenant in 1902.

The following were the more important changes —

1. The landlords are to be paid, not in cash, but
in 3 per cent, stock at 94, issued on a falling market.
As 1909 Irish Land Stock now stands at 82, it follows
that the Government are in fact offering the landlords

1 See White Paper issued January 13th, 1913.

134 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

£82 for every £94 that was offered under the 1903
Act.1

2. The tenant's annual instalments have been raised
to a higher rate. He has now to pay instalments of
£3 10s. per annum for every £100, instead of £3 5s.
under the 1903 Act — without any counterbalancing
advantage in the form of a reduced number of years.

3. A sum of £12,000,000 was provided under the
1903 Act for the purpose of giving a bonus to the
landlords to induce them to sell. The Government,
at the bidding of Mr. Dillon, have diverted the balance
of this sum to other purposes.

4. A system of tedious examination of prospective
transactions — with all the defects of litigation — has
been substituted for the simple course pursued under
the 1903 Act of accepting the land as security for the
sum advanced by the Government. The result has
been to interpose an awkward period of delay at the
critical stage of negotiations between landlord and
tenant, which frequently results in their breakdown.

(These conditions applied only to future agree-
ments ; but even existing agreements awaiting com-
pletion were upset by the decision to prefer those
landlords who would agree to take half their pay-
ment in stock in deliberate breach of the 1902
agreement.)

In consequence, land purchase is at a standstill.
Although both landlord and tenant are willing and

1 It is useless to expect an appreciation in the value of Irish Land
Stock owing to the flooded state of the market. Owing to the neces-
sity for immediate sale for the purpose of redeeming mortgages
with which Irish estates are heavily encumbered, half the stock
issued to the landlords is immediately thrown on the market.

UNIONIST CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY 135

anxious to see its completion, Mr. Birrell's Act of
1909 blocks the way. Mr. Dillon's policy of obstruc-
tion and delay has triumphed, though fortunately not
before over half the arable land of the country — and
that the better half — has become vested in peasant
proprietors under the 1903 Act.

Though the arts of agitation are not yet exhausted,
the Irish farmers are beginning to appreciate that the
Unionist Act of 1903 has resulted in the advance of
54 millions sterling 1 of British money ; while the
Nationalist Act of 1909 has produced only a million
and a half, and has blocked the whole scheme.

It will be the task of the Unionist Party, when they
are returned to power, to secure the immediate com-
pletion of land purchase in the spirit of the Act of
1903 : speedy transfer on terms agreed between
landlord and tenant.

In the words of Mr. Bonar Law : " The object is of
such vital importance that whatever the difficulties,
it must be our policy to complete with the utmost
possible rapidity the system of land purchase in
Ireland."2

IRISH LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Since the passing of the Irish Local Government
Act, 1898, by a Unionist Government, Ireland has
enjoyed the same system of local government by county
and district councils as exists in the rest of the United
Kingdom. Consequently, the administration of local

1 The total amount of money advanced by the British Government
by way of loan in aid of land purchase from the Ashbourne Act of
1885 to the Wyndham Act, 1903, is over seventy-five millions sterling.
— Cd. 4,412 of 1908 and White Paper of January 13th, 1913,

a Preface to Against Home Rule.

136 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

affairs is entirely in the hands of the inhabitants of
each particular district.

The members of the local councils are chosen by
popular election, and have complete control over the
levying and expending of the local rates and all
parochial and county matters.

The way in which the agitators of the Nationalist
Party have turned these local bodies into a close
political organisation, to the exclusion of their political
opponents, has been described in an earlier chapter. l

THE IRISH AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION SOCIETY
A consideration of the causes of Irish progress and
prosperity would be incomplete without a passing
reference to the magnificent work done by Sir Horace
Plunkett. The Irish Agricultural Organisation Society
— generally known as the I.A.O.S.-— was formed by
him, in 1894, as the result of five years untiring energy
in teaching the necessity for organisation and co-
operation among Irish farmers. The Society depends
mainly upon voluntary subscriptions, and has always
been run on a strictly non-political basis. " Its pro-
gress has been rapid and continuous ; and to-day the
co-operative societies connected with it number
nearly 1,000, with a turnover of 2J- millions sterling."
In conjunction with the Department of Agriculture,
it has effected a transformation in agricultural con-
ditions. Its branches include creameries, agricultural
societies (for the purchase and distribution of seeds
and manure), poultry-keeping societies, " credit bank "
societies, and others of a miscellaneous character.
1 Chapter III.

UNIONIST CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY 137

The I.A.O.S. recognises neither political nor religious
differences, and has persistently kept aloof from party
politics. Though three-fourths of its members are
Nationalists, " business — not politics " has been its
guiding principle ; and for that reason, and the fact
that it received assistance and encouragement from
a Unionist Government, it has incurred the hostility
of the official Nationalist Party. This attitude has
been translated into active obstruction under the
subservient Liberal Government at present in power.
By compelling the retirement of Sir Horace Plunkett
from the vice-presidency of the Department of Agri-
culture and obtaining the appointment of Mr. T. W.
Russell in his place, the Nationalist Party have been
able to secure the withdrawal of the contribution to
the I.A.O.S. from the funds of the Department, and
are endeavouring to prevent State assistance from
other sources. The details of this petty intrigue
would take too long to record here ; they have been
told elsewhere,1 and are an interesting sidelight on
Nationalist professions of devotion to Irish interests.

UNIONIST POLICY IN THE FUTURE

Much has been done, but much remains to do.
Unionists are encouraged by the successful results of
the work of the last thirty years to press forward with
the policy of conciliating Irish sentiment by material
and much-needed reforms. Their programme is com-
prehensive, and in addition to the completion of Land
Purchase, includes Educational Reform, particularly in

1 See the article by Mr. Gerald Balfour on Irish Rural Development
in Against Home Rule (1912).

138 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

regard to intermediate education ; Reform of the Poor
Law, on the lines of the majority report of the Royal
Commission on the Poor Laws and the Viceregal Com-
mission of 1906; Arterial Drainage, to improve vast
tracts of inhabited country which are liable to frequent
inundation ; the Reform of Private Bill Legislation ; 1
the Improvement of Transport Facilities ; and various
other schemes. It is beyond the scope of this volume
to describe these proposals in detail. Those who
desire further information will find the subject fully
discussed in the essays contributed by the leaders and
prominent Members of the Unionist Party to the
volume Against Home Rule.

" Their views, in the main, represent the policy
which the Unionist Government — when returned to
power — will have to carry into effect."

In conclusion, it is clear that constructive proposals
of this character can only be carried out by the assist-
ance of Imperial credit. The British taxpayers have
already advanced over 75 million pounds for land
purchase alone, and will have to lend another 30
millions at least before the scheme is completed. It
cannot be expected that they will consent to the
expenditure of further large sums from the Imperial
Exchequer if the control of Irish government is to be
withdrawn from the Imperial Parliament and handed
to a Nationalist Parliament at Dublin. In addition

1 On the lines of the procedure applied to Scottish Private Bills
in 1899 under which the enquiry into the subject matter of the
Bill — a proposed new railway, waterworks or drainage scheme, etc.,
as the case may be — may take place before a local tribunal, instead
of the expense and inconvenience of holding it before a Parliamentary
Committee at Westminster,

UNIONIST CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY 139

to this, it is imperative that any such schemes of
reform as are indicated above should be carried out
in singleness of purpose and without the desire to
benefit any political party or faction in Ireland.
It is impossible to expect the fulfilment of these
conditions under a Home Rule Parliament. The
Nationalist Party would have neither the money with
which to finance reforms nor the experience to carry
them out, while their past reputation for intrigue
belies the expectation that their energies would be
directed to a sincere and disinterested policy.

CHAPTER VIII

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912

THE previous chapters have dealt with the general
conditions prevailing in Ireland and the relations
between Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom,
in order to show that the establishment of Home Rule
in any form would be disastrous alike to Ireland and
to Great Britain. It now becomes necessary to
examine the main features of the present Home Rule
Bill. It will be found that the measure, while pos-
sessing all the defects which are inherent in any
scheme of Home Rule, contains many features which,
apart from the main principle, would produce friction
and discontent, and in spite of the most cordial relations
between the two Parliaments, would be sufficient to
make the new Constitution unworkable.

The following is a concise account of the main pro-
visions of the Bill as it left the House of Commons.
(For text of Bill, see APPENDIX.) In order that the
reader may obtain a complete view of the scheme of
the Bill, comment is reserved until the conclusion of
the following outline of its contents.

COMPOSITION OF IRISH PARLIAMENT

The proposed Irish Parliament is to consist of the
King, the Irish Senate, and the Irish House of
Commons.

The Senate is to consist of forty members, in the
first instance nominated by the Lord-Lieutenant

140

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 141

acting on the instructions of the Imperial Govern-
ment ; the members of subsequent Senates to be
chosen by popular election (by the system known as
proportional representation).

The House of Commons is to consist of 164 members
elected on the existing franchise and according to the
constituencies set out in the Schedule to the Bill —
128 county members, 34 borough members, and
2 members for Dublin University.

THE POWERS OF THE IRISH PARLIAMENT

The Irish Parliament would have power " to make
laws for the peace, order, and good government of
Ireland."

The limitations upon its powers of legislation fall
into three classes —

1. It is to have power to make laws only in respect
of matters relating exclusively to Ireland. In par-
ticular, certain Imperial matters are set out in Clause 2
of the Bill on which it is expressly prohibited from
legislating —

(1) Crown.

(2) Peace or war.

(3) Naval and military affairs.

(4) Treaties and foreign affairs.

(5) Dignities or titles of honour.

(6) Treason ; aliens ; naturalisation ; domicile.

(7) Foreign trade, except agencies for improving
trade and preventing fraud ; navigation ; merchant
shipping ; bounties on exports.

(8) Postal services, except those performed com-
pletely within Ireland ; designs for stamps.

.

142 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

(9) Lighthouses, etc.

(10) Coinage, weights and measures.

(11) Trade marks, copyrights, patents.

2. Certain departments of Irish Government are
withheld from the Irish Parliament and reserved to
the Imperial Parliament (Clause 2). These are
designated " Reserved Services " as contrasted with
" Irish Services." They are —

(1) Land Purchase.

(2) Old Age Pensions.

(3) National Insurance.

(4) Labour Exchanges.

(5) Collection of Taxes.

(6) Royal Irish Constabulary.

(7) Post Office Savings Bank, Trustee Savings
Banks, and Friendly Societies.

(8) Public loans in Ireland before the passing of
the Act.

Old Age Pensions, Health and Unemployment Insur-
ance, and Labour Exchanges can be transferred to
the Irish Parliament one year after a resolution is
passed in both Houses of the Irish Parliament
requesting such transfer.

The Royal Irish Constabulary — the semi-military
police force of Ireland — is to be automatically
transferred at the end of six years.

The Post Office Savings Banks, Trustee Savings
Banks, and Friendly Societies cannot be transferred
for ten years.

The supervision and control of Land Purchase and
the collection of all taxes are permanently reserved
to the Imperial Parliament.

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 143

3. Clause 3 of the Bill places certain restrictions l
on the character of legislation with the view of securing
religious equality. These restrictions are the alleged
safeguards against the unfair treatment of the
Protestant minority.

IRISH REPRESENTATION AT WESTMINSTER

Ireland is to be represented in the Imperial Parlia-
ment by 42 members, who will sit and vote for all
purposes. The present number of Irish members is
103, which is excessive : her proper proportion on a
basis of population is 66.

IMPERIAL SUPREMACY

The legal supremacy of the Imperial Parliament is
retained (Clause 1 [2]). The Lord-Lieutenant will
have power to give or withhold assent to Bills ; but
(1) must comply with instructions given by the
Imperial Government in respect of any Bill, and (2)
he must postpone giving assent if the Imperial
Government so direct.

The Irish Parliament would have no power to alter
the new Constitution (except where specially pro-
vided in the Bill), and would have no power to alter
any Act of the Imperial Parliament relating to Ire-
land passed subsequently to the establishment of the
Irish Parliament, although on a subject on which the
Irish Parliament has power to make laws. Any such
enactment of the Irish Parliament would be void to
the extent of its repugnancy with the Act of the
Imperial Parliament.

1 For a list of these see Clause 3 in the copy of the Bill in Appendix.
"— (2333)

144 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS

Any questions arising as to the validity of an Irish
Act would be decided, in the first instance, by the
ordinary Irish Courts of Justice, with appeal as of
right to the Irish Court of Appeal. A further appeal
may be made from that Court to the Judicial Com-
mittee of the Privy Council, but only by leave of the
King or of the Court of Appeal.

The question as to the validity of an Irish Act, or
whether a proposed Irish Bill be ultra vires, may be
referred immediately to the Judicial Committee of
the Privy Council by His Majesty, on the recom-
mendation of the Lord-Lieutenant or a Secretary of
State.

EXECUTIVE POWER

The administration of Irish services will be carried
out by Irish Departments ; and the persons at the
head of the Irish Departments will be Irish Ministers,
who must be —

1. Members of the Irish Privy Council ;

2. Members of the Irish Parliament,
within six months of appointment.

The Irish Ministers form the Executive Committee
to " aid and advise the Lord-Lieutenant in the exer-
cise of his executive power in relation to Irish Ser-
vices " — in other words, the Irish Cabinet. (Clause 4
[5]).

DEPARTMENTAL ARRANGEMENTS

Clause 40. — Arrangements may be made by any
Department of the Government of the United Kingdom
for the performance of any of its duties in Ireland by

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 145

officers of an Irish Department and vice versa. A
proviso is added that no such arrangement shall
diminish the responsibility of the Department by
which it is made.

JUDICIARY

Existing judges are to be retained on the same
terms as at present ; but all future judges are to be
appointed by the Lord-Lieutenant on the advice of
his Ministers, and to be removable only on Address
from both Houses of the Irish Parliament.

Provisions relating to Civil Servants will be found
in Clauses 32 and 33.

FINANCE

Just as the financial arrangements are the most
important, so they are the most faulty part of the
whole scheme.

The finance of the Bill is based upon the calculation
of Irish revenue and expenditure contained in the
Treasury White Paper,1 issued by the Government
with the Bill, and is drafted with the intention that
the funds at the disposal of the Irish Government
shall be the same as the present cost of Irish
administration, plus a bonus of £500,000 per annum
to meet the expense of setting up the new system.
This sum would ultimately be reduced to £200,000
per annum.

1 Cd. 6,154. Extracts from this financial outline are given in
Appendix B of this book.

146 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

The accuracy of the Government calculations has
been disputed by various authorities, but for the
purpose of the argument in the following pages they
are assumed to be correct.

According to the official calculation, Irish expendi-
ture at present exceeds Irish revenue by 1J million
pounds,1 so that the inducement offered by the Bill
to the British taxpayer is an initial loss of two millions
per annum. The statement that Great Britain by
granting Home Rule will be able to " cut the loss "
is entirely false. As will be seen, under the proposed
arrangement, the liability of Great Britain to bear
any deficit arising from a decrease of Irish revenue
remains unchanged under the Bill.

The finance of the Bill must be considered from
four points of view : The imposition of taxation ;
the collection of taxes, revenue, and expenditure.

There will be two systems of taxation in Ireland —

(1) Taxes imposed by the Imperial Parliament ;

(2) Taxes imposed by the Irish Parliament.
The proceeds of all taxes levied in Ireland, whether

1 The deficit is caused by the social legislation of the present
Government which, however beneficial, is undoubtedly costly.
Old Age pensions were established throughout the United Kingdom
in 1908. Old Age pensions in Ireland alone cost 2£ millions — one
million more than the deficit complained of by the Government.
While they lose no opportunity in making what capital they can
out of the fact that, according to their method of calculation,
Ireland is being run at a loss, the Government do not appear to
have drawn attention to the fact that the loss is of their own
creation. From the Unionist point of view, it appears invidious
to draw a debtor and creditor account between the various parts
of the United Kingdom ; ameliorative legislation should be extended
equally to all parts of the country ; and if there is to be any dis-
tinction, the poorer parts should be specially singled out for
development, in order that in time they may become as flourishing
as their more prosperous neighbours.

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 147

imposed by the Imperial Parliament or by the Irish
Parliament, are to be paid into the Imperial Exchequer.

The collection of taxes is reserved absolutely to the
Imperial Parliament.

There will be two main sources of revenue at the
disposal of the Irish Parliament —

A. Revenue derived from the Imperial Parlia-
ment in the form of a fixed annual grant.

B. Revenue from taxes imposed by the Irish
Parliament, which would be collected by Imperial
officials, paid into the British Exchequer and paid
out again to the Irish Exchequer.

The whole of the Irish revenue would be paid out of
the British Treasury in the form of an annual pay-
ment known as the Transferred Sum, composed as
follows —

A. (1) A sum representing the net cost to Great
Britain of the Irish administration at the time of
the passing of the Act — less the cost of the Reserved
Services.

(2) A grant of £500,000 a year for three
years, thereafter diminishing by £50,000 a year
until it is reduced to £200,000.

B. The proceeds of any taxes imposed by
the Irish Parliament.

The Transferred Sum will be subject to certain
deductions for sums guaranteed by the Imperial
Parliament and for various miscellaneous charges.
(See Clauses 18, 20, 31 [3], 32, 33 [4], 35, 37 [5], and 42.)

Three possible causes of deductions from the
Transferred Sum call for special attention —

(1) If an Imperial tax is reduced or discontinued

148 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

by the Irish Parliament, the Transferred Sum is
reduced accordingly.

(2) Deductions will be made on account of any
decrease in the yield of an Imperial tax in Ireland,
owing to the increase by the Irish Parliament in the
rate of the tax.1 (Clause 17 [4].)

(3) Deduction will also be made on account of
the excessive cost of collection of any Irish tax in
proportion to the yield of the tax.

The question whether the cost of collection is exces-
sive1] is determined by the Joint Exchequer Board.
(Clause 17 [5].)

The cost of all Irish Services (i.e., all Irish adminis-
tration other than the Reserved Services) has to be
met by the Irish Parliament out of the above revenue.

TAXATION

Imperial taxes will continue to be levied in Ireland.
Power is given to the Irish Parliament —

(1) to vary Imperial taxes by way of addition,
reduction, or discontinuance ;

(2) to impose new taxes, so long as any such tax
is not " substantially the same in character as an
Imperial tax." (Clause 15 [1].)

But there are very important restrictions in relation
to Customs, Income Tax, and Death Duties, which
are the principal taxes at present in force.

CUSTOMS
The Irish Parliament will have power to impose

1 i.e., on the principle that if an excise tax or import duty is
increased above a certain rate the tax will become less remunerative
owing to the decreased consumption of the article.

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 149

Customs Duties, but only upon articles subject to
Imperial Customs Duty. (Clause 15 [1] a.)

Such Imperial duties they may increase, but they
have no power to discontinue or decrease them, nor
may the corresponding Excise Duties be discontinued
or decreased. Any increase in Customs Duty must be
accompanied by a corresponding increase in Excise Duty.

The possible variations of Customs and Excise
between Great Britain and Ireland involve provisions
for drawbacks and duties in respect of articles sent
from one part of the United Kingdom to another,
and therefore entail the erection of a Customs barrier
between England and Ireland. (See Clause 16.)

Except as regards duties on beer and spirits, any
benefit to the Irish Exchequer from the increased
yield of Customs, Income Tax, or Death Duty — due
to an increase in the rate of tax by the Irish Parlia-
ment— is limited to 10 per cent, of the former yield
of the tax. The surplus above 10 per cent, goes to
the Imperial Exchequer, the intention being to pre-
vent a greater increase than 10 per cent, in the rate
of the tax.

The rate of Income Tax may not be increased
(except in the case of incomes of over £5,000 a year).
Variation is limited to exemptions, abatements, and
reliefs.

JOINT EXCHEQUER BOARD

The assessments and calculations which are involved
in this complicated scheme are entrusted to a Board
set up under the Act — called the Joint Exchequer
Board — consisting of five members.

150 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

By leave of His Majesty, there is to be an appeal
from a decision of the Joint Exchequer Board to the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on the
following questions only —

(1) Points of legal interpretation.

(2) Whether a tax of the Irish Parliament is
substantially the same in character as an Imperial
tax and, therefore, void. (Clause 30 [3].)

Subject to these two exceptions, the judgment of the
Board is to be final and conclusive on any matter
which is to be determined by them.

REVISION OF FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS

If in the opinion of the Joint Exchequer Board
during each of three successive years the " true "
Irish Revenue (i.e., the proceeds of Irish taxation
and of Imperial taxation in Ireland and any other
sums which may properly be regarded as Irish
Revenue) exceeds the total cost of Irish administra-
tion (i.e., the total cost of " Irish " Services plus the
cost of the Reserved Services), then the Board are
to report to the Imperial Treasury and the Lord-
Lieutenant, and copies of the report are to be pre-
sented to both Parliaments. The presentation of the
report shall be ground for revision by the Imperial
Parliament of the financial provisions of the Act, with
a view to —

(1) securing from Ireland an Imperial contribu-
tion ;

(2) giving Ireland extended powers of imposing
and collecting taxes.

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 151

Additional members are then to be summoned to the
Imperial Parliament from the Irish House of Commons
in such numbers as will make the representation of
Ireland at Westminster equivalent to the representa-
tion of Great Britain on the basis of population.
(Clause 26 [3].)

It should be noted that this is widely different from
the present representation of Ireland in the House of
Commons by 103 members. At present her proper
proportion on the basis of population is 66.

These additional members will be treated as mem-
bers of the Imperial Parliament for the purpose of
financial revision.

The method of selection of members of the Irish
House of Commons for the purpose, and all other
arrangements for carrying this Clause into effect, are
not provided by the Bill, but are to be made by
Order in Council at the time — such Order in Council
to be laid before the House of Commons of the
Imperial Parliament. (Clause 26 [3].)

Dealing, first, with the powers proposed to be con-
ferred upon the Irish Parliament, it is apparent that
the Bill follows the Australian model of loose federa-
tion rather than the Canadian system, by enume-
rating the matters which are reserved to the Imperial
Parliament and transferring the residue to the Irish
Parliament.

Emphasis has been repeatedly laid on the fact that
the Irish Parliament is to be a strictly subordinate
legislature, subject always to the control of the
Imperial Parliament.

152 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

In that case, it would seem essential to follow the
Canadian model by strictly denning the subjects of
legislation within the jurisdiction of the Irish
Parliament, leaving the undefined residue to the Imperial
Parliament.

Be that as it may, in any system of local govern-
ment it is desirable that there should be a clear divi-
sion between the functions of the local government
and those of the central government, otherwise fric-
tion and divided responsibility are inevitable. The
absence of this essential condition is stamped across
every page of the Bill. Everywhere the duties of
Irish officials and Imperial officials collide and con-
flict. It is true that under the Bill such essentially
Imperial matters as the Army and Navy, Foreign
Affairs, Treason, Domicile, and Coinage have been
exclusively reserved to the Imperial Parliament : but
there the clear line of cleavage ends. When we
come to the " Reserved Services " we find that
dual administration is inevitable in almost every
Government Department.

For instance, the question of Land Purchase * is
reserved to the Imperial Government ; but the con-
trol of the Land Commission Courts, which are
entrusted with the duty of judicially fixing the rents
between landlord and tenant, is transferred to the
Irish Government, although the price fixed for the
land under the Land Purchase scheme must neces-
sarily be mainly influenced by the judicial rent.
Similarly, the administration of the Congested Dis-
tricts Board, which is intimately associated with the
See Chapter 7.

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 153

solution of the Land Purchase problem,1 will be
controlled by the Irish Government.2

Take again the question of Customs. The Irish
Parliament will have the power to impose Customs
Duties, but the extent to which they can do so will
be absolutely dependent upon the action of the
Imperial Chancellor of the Exchequer, while the
Customs imposed by the Irish Parliament will be
collected by British officials. The case of the Post
Office is equally ludicrous. Letters going from one
place to another in Ireland will be handled by an
Irish Department. Letters going from a place in
Ireland to a place in England or anywhere outside
Ireland will be handled by a British Department.

Similarly with industrial legislation. Old Age Pen-
sions, National Insurance, and Labour Exchanges are
reserved to the Imperial Parliament ; while every
other description of industrial legislation is transferred
to the Irish Parliament.

Not only is this dual system bound to lead to dis-
putes and friction at every turn, but it is an odd
interpretation of the Nationalist ideal of a truly
National Parliament. It is, indeed, the half-hearted
attempt to satisfy the " National " ideal that has
produced this singular medley of inconsistencies.
By common consent, a fully autonomous Parliament
such as the Dominion Parliament of Canada has been
ruled out as impossible. The authors of the Bill have

1 According to Mr. Birrell, it is the largest landowner in the
world, the value of the property in its hands being between six and
seven million sterling. — Par. Debates, February 14th, 1913.

2 See Mr. Asquith's reply to a question in the House of Commons.
—Par. Debates, August 6th, 1912, col. 2933-5.

154 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

failed to recognise that you cannot have a " National "
Parliament subject to restrictions at every turn ; and
that if you must have Home Rule, the only possible
alternatives are either the grant of clearly-defined
spheres of local legislation, as in the case of the pro-
vincial legislatures in Canada and Australia, or of
subordinate powers of local administration as in the
States of the Union of South Africa. They have
with one hand set up the framework of a National
Parliament, and with the other have so hedged it in
with reservations and restrictions as to make it
impossible for the proposed Irish Parliament and
Executive to perform their functions without at
every turn coming into collision with the Imperial
authorities.

Instead of allowing the Irish Parliament free play
in certain clearly defined and limited Departments of
Government, the Bill gives a practically unlimited
sphere of legislative and administrative activity in
Ireland, but subjects the Irish Parliament and
Executive to constant interference by reserving part
of the work of each Department to the Imperial
Government.

We are told that the great safeguard against the
abuse of authority by the Irish Parliament and
Executive consists in the supremacy of the Imperial
Parliament, acting either through the veto of the
Lord-Lieutenant to proposed legislation (Clause 7) or
through the power of the Imperial Parliament to pass
legislation on any matter affecting Ireland, even
though upon a subject within the jurisdiction of the
Irish Parliament. (Clause 41 [1].)

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 155

The legal supremacy of the Imperial Parliament is
complete in theory. For all practical purposes, it
would be non-existent. It would be impossible to
exercise it for the following reasons. Assume that the
Lord-Lieutenant, acting on the instructions of the
Imperial Government, declined to give his assent to
any particular measure on the ground, for example,
that it was unfair to the Protestant minority,
injurious to the relations with England, or economic-
ally unsound. An Irish ministry, representing the
majority in the Irish House of Commons and having
the support of the electorate behind them would not
unnaturally refuse to submit to interference, would
resign their offices, and their party being in a
majority there would be no one to take their place.
To put the matter in a nutshell, the exercise of the
Imperial veto in matters of Irish domestic legislation
would be incompatible with the responsible Govern-
ment of an Irish Ministry. It is beside the point to
instance the case of the Colonial Parliaments. The
Imperial veto it is true exists in theory. In
practice it is rarely exercised.

In matters of purely domestic legislation the
Imperial Government have no desire to interfere and
would never dream of doing so, because it is recog-
nised that in all matters affecting the internal affairs
of a colony the Colonial Government is and must
be supreme. It is only where grave Imperial
interests are involved that the power of the Imperial
Government to veto Acts of the Colonial Parliaments
is exercised.

From an examination of three returns (House of

156 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

Lords Paper 196 of 1894 and House of Commons
Papers 362 of 1901 and 184 of 1906), it appears
that the number of occasions on which assent has
been refused to Colonial measures is 150 ; while in
regard to matters within the legislative powers of the
proposed Irish Parliament, during seventy years the
veto of the Crown was only permanently exercised in
forty-two cases in eighteen Colonies. It must also
be borne in mind that during at least half of that
period the, theory of Imperial Government was in
its infancy.

The dilemma in which the Imperial Government
would be placed is well instanced in a case which took
place in Natal in 1906 — the case of the condemned
Zulus. The Imperial Government issued instructions
to the Governor of Natal to suspend the execution of
several rebels in the Zulu rising of 1906 who had been
condemned to death by court-martial. Constitution-
ally, the Imperial Government were in a strong posi-
tion. Firstly, because the prerogative of mercy,
exercisable by the Crown, was involved ; secondly,
because questions affecting the treatment of natives
were expressly reserved in the Act which gave Natal
responsible Government. Mark the result. On
receipt of instructions from the Imperial Government
to suspend the executions pending consideration, the
Ministry of Natal resigned, and the Imperial
Government were obliged to give way.

The fact that it has been found undesirable and
unnecessary to exercise the veto of the Crown over
the internal affairs of the Colonies has no application
in the case of Ireland. Separated from the Colonies

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 157

by many thousands of miles, their domestic affairs do
not intimately concern us.

Ireland is at our door — separated only by a narrow
strip of sea : at one point it is not more than 12 miles
from the coast of Great Britain. Consequently, the
geographical position of Ireland, the intimate daily
relations between the two countries, the manifold
interests of individual Englishmen in Ireland and
vice-versa, in fact, the whole relationship of Ireland
to England — whether from an economic or strategic
point of view — would prevent the Imperial Govern-
ment from relinquishing their ultimate control over
Irish domestic legislation.

Indeed, the Imperial veto — as has been said — is
put forward by the Government1 as an important
safeguard against the oppression of the minority or
threatened injury to English interests ; but in fact
the more important the question at issue and the
more determined the Irish Government to have their
way, the more impossible would it be to exercise the
veto of the Crown without creating a deadlock. If
the Irish Ministry resigned — being supported by a
majority in the Irish House of Commons — the British
Government would be faced with two alternatives :
to give way or to repeal the Home Rule Act.

This brings us to the consideration of the other safe-
guards (Clause 3) which were drafted by the Govern-
ment for the purpose of maintaining religious equality
and preventing religious oppression and intolerance.

In so far as it is possible to guard against direct

1 Mr. Asquith (House of Commons Debates, April llth, 1912,
col. 1407).

158 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

legislation of an intolerant character the restrictions
imposed by the Clause are fairly wide, but there is
one important omission.

Mr. Gladstone's second Home Rule Bill in 1893
contained the following Clause (in the Bill as intro-
duced) : " The powers of the Irish Legislature shall
not extend to the making of any laws whereby any
person may be deprived of life, liberty, or property
without due process of law, or may be denied the
equal protection of the laws, or whereby private
property may be taken without just compensation."

This Clause is taken from the Constitution of the
United States of America and is moulded on a Clause
in Magna Charta, and while it is no safeguard against
abuses by the Executive, it does set up the standard of
elementary justice to which all legislation of the Irish
Parliament should conform. The necessity for such a
Clause was well stated in 1893 by Sir John Rigby, the
Solicitor-General under Mr. Gladstone's Government—

" We can never repeat too often, or in too many
forms of words, those essential doctrines by which we
intend to guide and govern our own inferior Legis-
latures, or the conduct of any who are subject to our
laws. The desirability and the necessity of repeating
these things consists in this : That everyone's atten-
tion, in serious matters such as this, should be drawn
to the fact that restrictions are imposed not by reason
of want of faith in the honour and honesty of the
body to whom powers are to be given, but because
it is desirable in the interest of all that all should
know the governing principles of our legislation. . . .
It is well, therefore, that on a solemn occasion such as

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 159

this, when we are, as we hope, inaugurating a great
Legislative Body for Ireland, we should recapitulate,
formulate, and make plain to those who are to act
under the law the lines on which it is intended they
should act." 1

It is remarkable that the considered judgment of
Mr. Gladstone's Government has been disregarded by
the authors of the present Bill. The Bill contains no
such enumeration of general legislative principles ;
and Mr. Asquith, though repeatedly pressed to insert
the clause from the 1893 Bill, has persistently refused
to do so.

On the other hand, it is impossible to regard the
alleged safeguards provided by Clause 3 as affording
any real protection for the minority. It is plain that
in any case when oppression is to be feared, the danger
lies far more in the abuse of administrative authority
than in the enactment of oppressive legislation.
Legislation is attended by the widest publicity, is
subject to the searching criticism of public opinion in
England, and may frequently be prevented by deter-
mined opposition before any harm can be done. On
the other hand, the slow poison of administrative
oppression works in hidden channels, is easy to dis-
guise under the pretence of the exigencies of national
Government, and is frequently not detected until the
harm is done.

Earl Dunraven — who is a strong Home Ruler, and
voted for the Bill on the Second Reading in the House
of Lords, because he is in favour of the principle —
put this point very clearly —

1 Parl. Debates, April llth, 1893, cols. 113, 114.

"—(3333)

160 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

" I should like to give my two principal reasons
why I am perfectly sure that this Bill would never
lead to a satisfactory and permanent settlement of
the question. In the first place, I do not think the
Bill provides a sufficient check on administration.
It ought not to be necessary, but it is necessary now.
The Ancient Order of Hibernians to which I alluded
just now is a very formidable body. It is returned
under the Insurance scheme as consisting of 130,000
members ; it is a purely Catholic society — a secret
society. I do not for a moment believe that it has
any blood-curdling oath. It is no menace, of course,
to Great Britain, nor is it any menace to Protestantism
as such ; but it is a menace to good administration in
Ireland. It is not out for blood ; it is out for plunder.
It is a predatory association prowling about for jobs
under the cloak of religion. It will die out in time,
because its policy and methods are contrary to all
that is best and strongest in the Irish character. But
it is well organised, powerful, and rich ; and when
Protestants and Unionists in the North see the way
in which Catholics and Nationalists in the South have
been treated by this Society, simply because they
objected to the methods of the society and because
they stood for good administration and fair play, and
for Ireland for all Irishmen — I can quite understand
that the Protestants and Unionists in the North,
when they see the way that men like Mr. O'Brien
have been treated, are uneasy, and I think they have
got ground for uneasiness." l

As a matter of fact, it is almost impossible to devise

1 Parl. Debates, January 27th, 1913, cols. 480-1.

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 161

checks against administrative abuses when you are
faced with the knowledge that whatever safeguards
you may devise the whole of the executive machinery
will be directed to circumventing them. Mr. Dillon
— Mr. Redmond's lieutenant — probably spoke with
more point than he was aware when he said, at
Salford —

" ... Then there was the question of guarantees.
The Irish Party were asked if they were willing that
guarantees should be inserted in the Home Rule
measure to protect the Protestant minority. He (Mr.
Dillon) attached no importance to these guarantees
at all. He did not believe that artificial guarantees
in an Act of Parliament were any real protection.
He did not believe that the wit of man or the skill of
a statesman could devise guarantees in an Act of
Parliament which could protect the people who per-
sisted in bitterly opposing the will of the great
majority of their countrymen."1

EXAMINATION OF THE FINANCE OF THE BILL

It is when we consider the finance of the Bill that
the hopelessness of the dual system becomes most
depressing.

The financial scheme is damned with duality in
every line. A dual system of taxation with dual
control and divided responsibility would alone be a
dangerous experiment ; but with the complicated
tangle of reservations and restrictions contained in
its provisions, it would be beyond the limits of human

1 Freeman's Journal, November 22nd, 1911.

162 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

diplomacy to prevent a violent collision between the
British and Irish Exchequers.

Consider the practical effect of the financial scheme
outlined earlier in this chapter.

In the first place Ireland would be subject to
separate systems of taxation by the Imperial Parlia-
ment and the Irish Parliament respectively. The
existing taxation of the whole of the United Kingdom
by the Imperial Parliament is to continue, but the
Irish Parliament are to have power to vary it and
also to impose taxes of their own. Such is the prin-
ciple. Note the practical application. The power to
vary Imperial taxation is fenced in with restrictions
to such an extent as to be worth nothing to the Irish
Exchequer. As regards the three principal sources
of revenue — Income Tax, Death Duties, and Customs
— the powers of the Irish Parliament are strictly
limited by the terms of the Bill.

Take, first, the case of Customs Duties. Contrary
to the practice in every known federal system, the
Irish Parliament is to have power to impose Customs
Duties, but only on articles subject to Imperial
Customs, and then only to the extent of 10 per cent,
addition — except in the case of beer and spirits,
which, be it noted, are already taxed up to the hilt. l

The only articles dutiable in the United Kingdom, in
addition to alcohol, are tea, coffee, sugar, tobacco, and
cocoa. The range for the 10 per cent, is accordingly

1 Although taxation on spirits in the United Kingdom rose by
40 per cent, between 1895 and 1911, the proportionate receipts
from taxation diminished by no less than £1,250,000. — Lord St.
Aldwyn, late Chancellor of the Exchequer, House of Lords Debates,
January 28th, 1913.

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 163

very small. In addition to this the whole
scheme of the Irish Budget would be liable to break
down at any moment by the decision of the British
Treasury to re-model the British Customs system,
for instance by conforming to the doctrine of a free
breakfast table, which is being urged by many
members of the Liberal Party. With greatly reduced
duties on the above articles, the Irish Chancellor
would either have to follow suit in the year next after
the change was made, or have the mortification of
seeing a large part of his revenue — above the 10 per
cent, limit — absorbed by the British Treasury.
Indeed the proposal is so fantastic that it is difficult
to believe that it is seriously intended ; it demon-
strates the absurdity of attempting to raise a
Customs barrier between the two countries.

Further the powerful " free trade " influences in
the Liberal Party have procured the insertion of the
proviso that any Customs duty prevailing in Ireland
is to be accompanied by a corresponding Excise Duty,
thereby preventing the Irish Parliament from doing
anything to stimulate the production of Irish
industries, for example Irish tobacco or beet-sugar.

Again, the Irish Parliament is not allowed to vary
the rate of Income Tax (except in regard to incomes
above £5,000 a year, of which there are not too many
in Ireland). Their power of variation is limited to
exemptions, abatements, and reliefs. Should they,
by the exercise of much patience and ingenuity,
succeed in so adapting the rates of abatement as to
raise the total yield of the tax to more than 10 per
cent, above what it would otherwise have been, the

164 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

British Treasury will retain any margin above that
10 per cent, limit The limit similarly applies in the
case of Death Duties.

The principal sources of revenue being thus fore-
stalled by the British Treasury, what remains to the
Irish Parliament ? They may not impose any tax
substantially the same in character as an Imperial
tax. What opportunities are there for independent
taxation ? There is a general feeling that the present
Chancellor of the Exchequer has already taxed every-
thing that is taxable, except foreign imports. It is
a well-worn cry of the Nationalist agitators that
Ireland is heavily over-taxed.1 It is hardly to be
expected, therefore, that the Irish Parliament would
attempt to impose taxes on land — the favourite quarry
of the British Chancellor of the Exchequer. The
strength of the Nationalist Party lies in the agricultural
districts, and any attempt to tax the land which the
farmers have obtained under the Land Purchase
scheme would be a suicidal policy for them to adopt.

There remains, it is true, the industrial district in
the North-East, and the people of Ulster fear, not
unnaturally, that the thriving condition of the linen
and other industries would form a tempting bait for
the Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer. If the Irish
Parliament were mad enough to adopt the policy of
taxing the industrial profits of the North of Ireland,
so short-sighted a policy would be foredoomed to
failure. When trade and manufactures are subjected

1 In Ireland at the present time the rates of taxation are the
same as in England, and would remain so under the Bill, subject
to the limited power of alteration given to the Irish Parliament.

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 165

to attacks upon the mainsprings of their energy, they
quickly disappear to other countries ; but, inasmuch
as Ulster has refused to submit to Home Rule, it is
hardly necessary to consider the matter.

It is clear, therefore, that the Bill would set up an
elaborate system of complicated machinery capable
of producing only the minimum of revenue for the
Irish Exchequer and the maximum of friction with
the British Treasury.

Nor is this all. While the Irish Parliament are to
have a free hand in spending Irish revenue, the
British Government are to have the odium of collect-
ing the taxes — no matter whether they are imposed
by the Imperial Parliament or by the Irish Parliament.

A Committee, under the chairmanship of Sir Henry
Primrose, was appointed by the Government prior to
the drafting of the present Home Rule Bill to examine
the financial relations between Great Britain and
Ireland. The Committee issued an elaborate report
embodying their recommendations, which has been
published,1 but the finance of the Bill proceeds on
lines directly opposed to the recommendations of the
Government's own Committee, and it is matter for
comment that the Government have obstinately
refused to publish the evidence upon which the report
of the Committee is based. 2 The report covers twenty-
eight folio pages and is too long to reproduce, but the
keynote of the recommendations is contained in the
following extract —

1 Cd. 6153, 1912.

a Since the above was written the Government, as the result
of continuous pressure, have consented to publish part of the
evidence.

166 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

" It is a first principle of sound government that the
same authority that has the spending of revenue
should also have the burthen and not infrequently
the odium of raising that revenue. That one should
have the unpopular duty of providing the means and
another the privilege of expending them is a division
of labour that leads to disaster. . . The lesson which
it is required to bring home to the individual Irish-
man in concrete and palpable form is that before
any money can be expended by an Irish Government,
he must first pay his share of that money in taxation.
We believe that that lesson cannot be effectively
taught if the Imperial Parliament retains the power
of imposing or collecting taxes."

The Bill offends against both of these canons : the
Irish Government will have sole control of the
expenditure in the transferred services the bulk of
the taxation will be imposed by the Imperial Parlia-
ment the whole of the collection of taxes will be
undertaken by the Imperial Government. Mr.
Redmond may consider that the dream of " Ireland
a nation once again " will be realised by the passage
of this Bill but his critics — and there are many in
Ireland — will not be slow to discover that it is a
quaint conception of truly national ideals that
approves the imposition of the bulk of taxation and
the collection of the whole of the taxes by an
external authority.

Consider the well-known Nationalist doctrine that
Ireland ought to be left free to govern herself and
work out her own destiny in her own way. Can these
proposals be said to offer any prospect of the growth

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 167

of that self-reliance which is the mainstay of the
idealist Home Rule school ?

The Irish Government would be in receipt of a
yearly grant from the British Government of fixed
amount, which would form almost the sole source of
revenue. The grant carries no obligation with it as
to the way in which it shall be spent and whether
Irish administration be good or bad, the money would
still come in. Bad administration, especially in a
country like Ireland, whose development is in its
infancy, spells diminished prosperity and a consequent
decrease in the revenue from taxes. Accordingly, if
you provide that revenue shall come aliunde, and shall
remain constant independently of the yield of taxa-
tion, you remove one of the chief incentives of the
Irish Government to careful and economical adminis-
tration. Nor does it end there. In the light of the
history of the Nationalist Party good government
under an Irish Parliament is unlikely but should
this expectation be falsified and careful and prudent
administration result, not one penny of the revenue
arising from the increased yield of the bulk of the
taxes in Ireland would go into the pockets of the
Irish Treasury. According to the vicious principle
of the Bill the Imperial Government would reap the
whole of the benefit. In other words, the Imperial
Government would undertake the risk of financing
Ireland and collecting her taxes and stand to bear
the risk of profit or loss on the transaction, accord-
ingly as Ireland is well governed or badly governed
by the Irish Parliament.

Such a state of things does not offer much

168 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

encouragement to the British taxpayer, who will have
to guarantee the fixed annual payment to Ireland. It is
admitted by the Government that at the outset the
deficit will cost the British people £2,000,000. It
should be borne in mind that the deficit does not
appear in the Bill, but is based on the cost of govern-
ing Ireland at the time of the passing of the Act ;
while allowance must be made for the increasing cost
of the Reserved Services. l Several financial experts
incline to the belief that the annual loss to Great
Britain would be nearer £3,000 ,000. 2 For this
the British taxpayer would have the privilege of
watching the Irish Government spend the money,
without being able to control the objects or method
of expenditure.

The frequent adjustment of financial questions
between the British and Irish Treasuries, entailed by
the complicated provisions of the Bill, is entrusted to
the Joint Exchequer Board. The functions of this
novel tribunal will involve decisions both in matters
of legal interpretation and financial calculations ; but
the Board will also have to decide many matters
turning entirely on questions of opinion to be deduced
from the facts before them. Quot homines tot
sent entice.

Frequent comment was made in the debates, in
both Houses, that no provision is made in the Bill as
to the status or qualification of the members of this
all-powerful tribunal, beyond the fact that two of the

1 Old- Age Pensions are an exception. They will probably
decrease.

a See Lord St. Aldwyn's speech in the House of Lords Debate.

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 169

five members are to be appointed by the Imperial
Treasury, two by the Irish Treasury, and a Chairman
appointed by His Majesty.

Inasmuch as it is a fundamental rule of the British
Constitution that His Majesty acts upon the advice of
His Ministers, this arrangement is tantamount to the
appointment of three members by the British Govern-
ment and two by the Irish Government, so that the
British Government would be in a permanent majority
on the Board — another " grievance " for Ireland.

There is not a word in the Bill as to the period of
the appointment of the members of the Board, or by
whom they are removable or on what grounds ; to
what salaries they shall be entitled, or by whom their
salaries and expenses shall be borne. The people,
both of Great Britain and Ireland, are surely entitled
to some provision that only men of the highest
integrity and the widest experience can be selected.
There is not a word in the Bill to secure anything of
the kind. It would be possible for the Irish Treasury
to select as the two Irish nominees men without
principle, honour, or knowledge. It is not suggested
that such a scandal is probable, but when a new
Constitution is being framed even remotely possible
contingencies must be provided for. It is not dis-
puted that the creation of the Board is without pre-
cedent and when it is reflected that it will be in
the power of the members practically to settle the
financial relations between Great Britain and Ireland,
it would seem that such a proposal is contrary to
modern ideas of democratic Government and involves
a greater individual responsibility upon the members

170 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

than they could reasonably be expected to bear : in
fact it calls to mind the Triumvirate of ancient Rome.

The importance and difficulty — one might almost
say the impossibility — of the functions of the Board
may be gathered from a consideration of some of the
points which they will have to decide. What is the
cost to the British Exchequer of Irish Services at the
time of the passing of the Act — a most important
point, for on it depends the amount of the annual
grant to Ireland ? What is true Irish Revenue :
what is or is likely to be the cost of a Reserved
Service which is about to be transferred : whether
a tax imposed by the Irish Parliament is substanti-
ally the same as an Imperial tax : * whether it is a
protective tax or not : whether the cost of collecting
it is excessive : what are its proceeds as distinguished
from the proceeds of an Imperial tax, of which it
may form a part : whether it has caused a decrease
in the yield of the Imperial tax : what is the loss to
the Imperial Exchequer by the reduction or dis-
continuance of an Imperial tax by the Irish Parlia-
ment : and, lastly, when the true Irish Revenue
exceeds the cost of Irish Services and in the opinion
of the Board the time has arrived for revising the
financial provisions of the Act ? 2

The above are some only of the complicated ques-
tions which the Board will have to decide. They
are all questions of fact or opinions on matters of
fact, and only on one of them is there a right of appeal.

1 There is a right of appeal on this point to the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council by leave of His Majesty.

a See speech of Lord St. Aldwyn, House of Lords, January 28th,
1913, col. 530.

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 171

The destination of enormous sums of money will
be determined by the bare " yes " or " no " of the
Board, whose word is final on the matter. Differ-
ences of opinion between the British and Irish mem-
bers of the Board are inevitable ; and where points
of great importance are involved, it is idle to expect
that either Parliament will accept the decision of the
Board as conclusive. Pressure would be used to
induce the Imperial Parliament to amend the decision
by legislation, and the whole matter in dispute would
be thrashed out again in the Parliaments at Dublin
and at Westminster.

This brings us to the consideration of the real
inducement to the Nationalist Party to accept the
unworkable scheme of the Bill — the retention of forty-
two Irish members at Westminster. There can be no
doubt that the forty-two members would be used as
a powerful lever by the Irish Parliament to extract
further concessions from the British Treasury and
Mr. Redmond is able to console his supporters with
the reflection that the Irish members at Westminster,
backed by the unanimous demand of the Dublin
Parliament, would be able to compel amendments to
the Home Rule Act whenever, owing to the equal
balancing of parties at Westminster, the Irish
members were in a position to turn the scale. The
statement that, by granting Home Rule to Ireland
by the present Bill, British politics will be relieved
of the incubus of the Irish vote is untrue. The Irish
vote, though reduced in numbers, would be backed
by the powerful influence of the Irish Parliament and,
as parties are balanced at present, would have a

172 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

controlling voice. Out of the forty-two Irish members,
some thirty would be Nationalists. In the present
Parliament, if these thirty voted with the Opposition,
Mr. Asquith's Government would be in a majority of
one,1 which it need hardly be said would be
insufficient for him to remain in office.

The retention of the Irish in the Imperial Parlia-
ment would only be justifiable as part of a Federal
Parliament, having charge only of the common
interests of the United Kingdom. To give the Irish
a controlling voice in the management of the domestic
affairs of England, Scotland, and Wales, and at the
same time to set up an exclusively Irish Parliament
in Dublin, is an inequitable arrangement, which it is
impossible to justify. It may be argued that the
total abandonment of Irish representation at West-
minster tends to separation ; but as the whole scheme
of a separate Irish Parliament and Executive savours
of separation, the argument is insufficient to justify
the interference of Irish members in the domestic
legislation of Great Britain, with which after the
grant of Home Rule they would have no concern.

Finally, we have to consider the extraordinary
proposal in Clause 26 of the Bill for the re-casting of
the entire financial scheme at some indefinite date in
the future.

When in the opinion of the Joint Exchequer Board
the total yield of revenue from Ireland — " true Irish

1 Liberal . . . . 264 British Unionists . . 262
Labour .. .. 41 Irish Unionists . . 42

305 304

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 173

revenue " — exceeds during each of three years the
total cost of Irish administration, a further contingent
of Irish members will come to Westminster to assist
in discussing the revision of the financial relations
between the two countries, with the double purpose
of (1) settling the contribution to be paid by Ireland
towards Imperial expenditure ; (2) allowing the Irish
Parliament greater freedom in the direction of taxa-
tion and collection of revenue. In this respect the
Government has deliberately set out to do the very
thing which its own advisers deprecate in the strongest
terms.

The danger of the proposal is ably set out in the
report of the Financial Relations Committee appointed
by the Government, to which reference has already
been made —

" In making arrangements for any new departure
of a complicated kind, there is naturally a tempta-
tion to escape from the difficulty of solving embarras-
sing problems by postponing their solution to some
future date. Under certain circumstances, there may
be no other alternative ; and always there is the hope
that increase of knowledge, or even the mere lapse of
time, may eventually aid in the solution. But in
this particular case it is certain that however great
may be the difficulties encountered at the original
settlement, those that will surround revision will be
incomparably greater. At the original settlement
there can be no parity of status between the parties
to the contract. In fact, one of the two will not yet
be in corporate existence. It will be merely repre-
sented by the individuals of whom it will eventually

174 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

be composed, and by those who sympathise with
them. The other party will be in a position of such
preponderating authority, that it will practically be
able to dictate the terms on which the settlement must
be accepted, or the whole enterprise be foregone. At
the time of revision the position will be entirely
changed. There will then be two parties, each fully
clothed with a definite authority, constitutionally or
legally conferred ; and failure to reach agreement
will not be susceptible of any such short method of
solution as might be resorted to at the original settle-
ment. It follows that it is extremely undesirable to
leave open for future determination any questions of
a kind that would demand settlement as a condition
of the continued working on constitutional lines of
the machinery set up in the first instance. It would
be unwise, for example, to leave as a subject for
revision some matter in respect of which the working
of the original compact would be wholly arrested,
unless the Irish Government could be compelled to
take action in some direction, however little it might
approve of the course proposed. By the Act con-
stituting that Government, it can be restrained from
action in specified directions, by depriving of legal
validity any enactment of the Irish Parliament, or
any proceeding of the Irish Government that is
outside of, or contrary to, their defined powers. But
there is no means, short of the employment of force
in the last resort, by which an independent legis-
lature or executive can be compelled to do something
positive against its will."

In conclusion, there remains to be dealt with the

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 175

argument frequently put forward by Mr. Asquith and
his colleagues that the grant of Home Rule to Ireland
is necessary in order to relieve the Imperial Parlia-
ment of the congestion of Irish business. The above
commentary on the provisions of the Bill is sufficient
to demonstrate the fallacy of the argument. In the
first place, the Reserved Services alone would require
considerable discussion, while the disputes arising
from the financial provisions would take up more
time in the Imperial House of Commons than is now
required for the whole of Irish business. Not only so,
but every case of friction between Irish and English
officials, every instance of abuse of authority by the
Irish Executive, every alleged infraction of the rights
of the Protestant minority, would come up for dis-
cussion at Westminster, and would be hotly contested
by the ever present Nationalist Members.

In fact, the statement that the passing of the Home
Rule Bill would relieve congestion at Westminster is so
palpably false that it is unnecessary to examine it further.

As the above criticisms will doubtless be met by the
answer that the Bill has received the approval of the
House of Commons, it is desirable to consider the
conditions under which it was debated.

The Bill was amended in several important
particulars, l owing to the pressure of the Government's
own supporters as well as of the Opposition.

1 For instance, the popular election of members of the Senate
has been substituted for the extraordinary proposal that they
should be nominated by the Lord- Lieu tenant acting on the advice
of the Irish Cabinet. In the Bill, as amended, nomination is confined
to the first Senate. Subsequent Senates are to be elected by the
system of proportional representation. The remarks in this
chapter of course apply to the Bill as amended.

13— (»333)

176 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

The number of amendments which the Government
themselves found it necessary to bring forward are a
sufficient indication of the haste with which it was
originally drafted. Limits of space prevent a detailed
examination of the changes made in the measure
during its passage through the House of Commons ;
but it is certain that much wider alterations would
have been made, and possibly the unworkable
character of the Bill demonstrated to such an extent
that even the present machine-driven majority in the
House of Commons would have refused to pass it,
had it not been for the peculiar conditions under
which it was discussed in Committee.1 Under the

1 For the benefit of those who are not familiar with the procedure
of debate in the House of Commons, it may be explained that the
debates on every public Bill consist of five stages —

(1) DEBATE ON MOTION FOR LEAVE TO INTRODUCE THE BILL. The
House considers whether it is willing to consider the proposals in
the Bill. If yea, the Bill is read a first time.

(2) DEBATE ON SECOND READING. The House considers the main
principles of the Bill, and if they are approved, the Bill is read a
second time.

(3) COMMITTEE STAGE. The House goes into Committee on the
Bill, i.e., the provisions of the Bill are examined clause by clause
and line by line. This stage provides, or ought to provide, an
opportunity of disclosing defects in the practical methods by which
it is proposed to give effect to the principles approved on Second
Reading, and if necessary of passing amendments. It need hardly
be said that it frequently happens that a proposal — the principle
of which has been approved in theory — is found to be unworkable
when the practical details are examined.

(4) REPORT STAGE. The Bill is reconsidered as a whole in the
light of the amendments passed in Committee and further amend-
ments added if necessary.

(5) THIRD READING. The House having settled the details of the
Bill, considers whether it should finally assent to it, and if so the
Bill is read a third time and passed.

Every Bill must stand or fall upon a careful examination of its
working details, and therefore it is obvious that the Committee
Stage is the most important part of the proceedings. Full and

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 177

form of procedure known as the time-table guillotine,
a fixed period of time — usually only a few hours — was
set apart for each Clause or group of Clauses ; and as
amendments are considered in the order of the words
of the Bill after which they are to be inserted, it
follows that many lines of the Bill and indeed many
whole Clauses, were not discussed at all.1

The following details indicate the amount of dis-
cussion which Mr. Asquith's Government have thought
sufficient for the settlement of the new Irish
Constitution.

The Home Rule Bill as it left the House of Com-
mons contained 51 Clauses.

The discussion of Clauses takes place in the Com-
mittee Stage and on Report. The cursory nature of
the discussion may be gathered from the fact that
only 5 Clauses a were wholly discussed either in Com-
mittee or on Report ; 24 Clauses were partly discussed. 8
On several of these, the discussion did not cover more
than the first few lines ; 22 Clauses 4 were passed
without a word of discussion either in Committee or on
Report.

Making the calculation another way, the Bill as it left

unfettered opportunity should be given for the free discussion of
every part of the measure.

As will be seen from the account in the following pages, these
conditions have not been observed in the case of the Home Rule Bill.

1 The power of the Chairman of Committee to select the amend-
ments which he considers to be most important does not get over
the difficulty that the allotted time was manifestly insufficient for
the consideration of more than a few of the important points raised.

8 Clauses 1, 37, 40, 42, and 44.

» Clauses 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9. 11, 13, 14, 15, 22, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29,
31, 33, 38, 43, 45, 46, 49.

« Clauses 6, 10, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 30, 32, 34, 35,
36, 39, 41, 47, 48, 50, 51.

178 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

the House of Commons contained 1,928 lines and the
Schedules. Of these, only 305 lines were discussed
either in Committee or on Report, while 1,623 lines
were passed without any discussion at all.

The Schedules to the Bill (556 lines), which deter-
mine the distribution of seats for the Irish Parliament
and for the forty-two Irish members who are to sit
at Westminster, were passed without a word of
discussion.

As will be seen from the numbered Clauses of
the Bill in the Appendix, the following important
provisions of the Bill were not discussed —

The subjects prohibited to the Irish Parliament,
with one exception — " trade outside Ireland."

The Reserved Services, with the exception of
Land Purchase.

The position of Irish Ministers.
The transfer of the Reserved Services, except the
Royal Irish Constabulary.

The conditions respecting the power of the Lord-
Lieutenant to withhold the Royal Assent.
Money Bills.

Privileges and qualifications of members of Irish
Parliament.

The number of Irish at Westminster and how
they should be elected.

Composition of Transferred Sum (except the
amount representing the cost to Imperial Exchequer
of Irish Services — item (a).

Taxing powers of the Irish Parliament, except the
general power of altering Imperial taxes.

Conditions necessary to financial revision and the

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 179

manner in which Irish representatives should come

to Westminster.

Conditions of office and retiring of existing Irish

judges.

Power of concurrent legislation of Imperial

Parliament.
Power to make Orders in Council adapting laws,

dealing with transfer of Reserved Services, etc.
The distribution of seats for the Irish Parliament

and the Irish at Westminster.

The haste with which the Bill was drafted and the
lack of consideration given to it are apparent from the
fact that the Government found it necessary to insert
no less than 143 amendments during the progress of
the measure through the House of Commons. The
unreality of the proceedings may be gauged from the
fact that only 16 of these were discussed, and that
out of 1,054 amendments (omitting duplicates) pro-
posed in the Committee Stage by the Opposition
and by private members of the Government only 76
were discussed ; while in the Report Stage, out of
778 of such amendments, all but 28 were swept aside
by the closure and left unconsidered.

The Government were compelled to have recourse
to this drastic form of closure for two reasons. In the
first place, as explained in Chapter I, they are faced
with the necessity of satisfying some at least of the
demands of each of the various sections which make
up their composite majority. This involves the con-
sideration in one Session of Parliament of a greater
number of highly controversial measures of first-class im-
portance than can reasonably be discussed in the time

180 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

at the disposal of the House of Commons, after allowing
for the ordinary work of Parliament in providing for
the finance of the year and other necessary business.

In the second place, many of the Government's
supporters are weak upon the Home Rule question.
The majority on several occasions dropped far below
its ordinary strength, and once the Government were
actually defeated.1

Consequently the less opportunity that was given
for disclosing the discrepancies of the Bill and demon-
strating the unworkable nature of its provisions, the
less likelihood of the more timid of their supporters
being prompted by indignant public opinion to open
revolt against the tyranny of the party machine.

It must be borne in mind that the present Bill is
a feeble attempt at compromise between the Nationalist
demand for a truly National Parliament with some
semblance of independence and the refusal of the
orthodox Liberal to agree to anything in the nature
of separation. The Home Rule Bill is an attempt to
reconcile two antagonistic points of view which are
in their nature irreconcilable, and the result has been
to produce a measure fantastic in theory and unwork-
able in practice. Probably no one is more aware of
the impractical nature of the proposals than the
authors of the Bill, but the business of the Govern-
ment is to keep in office as long as possible. This
they can only do by the aid of the Nationalist vote ;
and, therefore, being compelled to proceed with
Bill which they know to be rotten to the core, the]
have sought to curtail debate lest their supporter

1 On the financial resolutions of the Home Rule Bill.

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 181

should be goaded into revolt by the widespread
disclosure of its absurdities.

Indeed the drastic closure of the Home Rule Bill
in Parliament is admirably consistent with the attitude
of the Government at the time of the General Election
when they abstained from stating their intention to
introduce a Home Rule Bill until the election was half
over, and even then declined to give any information
of the contents of the proposed measure.1

In the Debate on the Bill in the House of Lords,
Lord Curzon, ex- Viceroy of India, aptly contrasted
the indecent haste with which the Home Rule Bill
was prepared and rushed through the House of Com-
mons with the careful deliberations which attended
the framing of the South African Constitution in 1909.
The comparison is so just and so strictly relevant to
the accusation, that the Government, by a combina-
tion of guile and force majeure, are attempting to
force the Home Rule Bill into law against the wishes
of the people of Great Britain, that I make no apology
for quoting it in full —

" The noble Lord who preceded me suggested that
this question might be settled, and could alone be
settled, by the consultation and co-operation of all
Parties. For our part, we are content to see Ireland
advance on her career of increasing prosperity with
the institutions which she at present enjoys ; but if
consultation and co-operation are desired, surely the
last way in which to effect that result is to adopt the
methods embodied in this Bill. Reference has been
made again and again to the precedent of South

* See Chapter I,

182 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

Africa. I happened to be in South Africa when the
South African Constitution was being drawn up.
The circumstances were even more difficult than
those of framing a Constitution for Ireland, because
the two parties were not only separated by great
differences of race, religion, and so on, but had been
actually engaged in war. You may almost say that
the hands of the people who met in conference had
been imbrued in each other's blood. How was it
done ? The four States elected their delegates and
sent up their most important men. Those persons
met in conference : first, in Durban ; next, in Cape
Town ; and third, in Bloemfontein — the three capitals.
They met without the embarrassing presence of the
Press, and they discussed the matter in secret con-
clave. Between the sittings they met constantly,
and I had the honour of meeting them and hearing
them converse in private houses and elsewhere. Line
by line, word by word, they went through the pro-
posed Constitution. They did not approach the
matter as antagonists ; they approached it as states-
men. Not a single man had any desire to revive old
sores or to score off the other party. They wanted
to build up a new Constitution in which all could join
for the benefit of the country. Something is to be
learned from that. Further, when the Constitution
had been drawn up, it was submitted to the Parlia-
ments of the various States concerned ; and in the
case of one State — Natal — of whose adhesion there
was some doubt, it was actually sent on referendum
to the people.
" If you are constructing a new Constitution for a

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 183

country sundered by great differences, that is the
method and those are the lines on which you ought
to proceed. But they are not your lines. What you
have done is, first of all, to conceal your Bill from the
country at the last election ; then to conceal it from
your own followers until it came before the House of
Commons ; then to bring it before the House of Com-
mons as an arrangement between yourselves and your
Irish supporters ; then to use the closure and guil-
lotine to carry it through the House of Commons ;
then to use the impotence of this House to deprive
us of any opportunity of dealing with it effectively ;
and then to wait two years under your Parliament
Act in order to force this one-sided Party solution
upon the country." l

In the above observations on the scheme of the
Bill it has been impossible to do more than briefly
indicate the reasons why, apart from any question of
the principle of a separate Parliament, the present
measure is foredoomed to failure. An exhaustive
criticism of its manifold inconsistencies and oppor-
tunities for friction would fill a volume.

The Bill is condemned alike by friends and
opponents of Home Rule.2 Its finance has been

1 Earl Curzon, House of Lords Debates, January 30th, 1913,
col. 755.

a The destructive criticisms of the Opposition in the House of
Commons on the details of the measure — or such of them as it was
possible to discuss in the limited time vouchsafed by the Government
— to this day remain unanswered because they are unanswerable.
Those who wish for the fullest information on the subject cannot do
better than refer to the official report of the Debates on the Bill.

The second reading debate in the House of Lords affords a
convenient summary of the defects of the measure.

Attention is particularly directed to the speeches of the Duke

184 THE TRUTH ABOUT HOME RULE

condemned by the Nationalist General Council of
County Councils ; and has been described in the
House of Commons by Mr. O'Brien, the leader of the
Independent Nationalist Party, as " putrid." When
it is presented a second time to the House of Com-
mons, it cannot be amended, for any alteration would
defeat the operation of the Parliament Act and make
it impossible to pass it into law in the present Parlia-
ment without the consent of the House of Lords.1
Whether in the course of the next twelve months its
authors will be compelled, by the force of public
opinion, to hurry the ill-starred measure into
oblivion, or whether they will insist on passing it
into law, remains to be seen.

Signs are not wanting that the Government are
already weakening on the matter. Both Mr. Birrell a
and Mr. Redmond have hinted at the possibility of a
settlement by compromise ; although they must know
that as far as Ulster is concerned compromise is
impossible. Is it too much to hope that this
change of front will result in the abandonment of

of Devonshire, the Marquis of Zetland, Lord Midleton, and Lord
Ashbourne (late Lord Chancellor of Ireland), and especially to the
masterly exposure of the financial scheme of the Bill contained in
the speech of Viscount St. Aldwyn (Sir M. Hicks-Beach), formerly
Chancellor of the Exchequer. No less destructive is the criticism
of those who are avowedly in favour of some form of Home Rule.
See the speeches of Earl Grey (late Governor- General of Canada),
Earl Dunraven (late Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland), and the
Archbishop of York.

The Lords' Debate is reported in The Times (London) for January
28th, 29th, 30th, and 31st (1913).

1 Under the terms of the Parliament Act the House of Commons
may suggest amendments, but they have no power to enforce their
acceptance by the House of Lords.

«At Warrington. See The Times, February 17th, 1913.

THE HOME RULE BILL, 1912 185

a Bill which pleases nobody ? If the Bill is
persisted in, two things are certain : There will
be civil war in Ulster, and an end to public
confidence, security, and credit throughout the rest
of Ireland.

APPENDIX A

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND BILL
ARRANGEMENT OF CLAUSES

Legislative A uthority.
Clause.

1. Establishment of Irish Parliament.

2. Legislative powers of Irish Parliament.

3. Prohibition of laws interfering with religious equality, etc.

Executive Authority.

4. Executive power in Ireland.

5. Future transfer of certain reserved services.

Irish Parliament.

6. Summoning, &c., of Irish Parliament.

7. Royal Assent to Bills of Irish Parliament.

8. Composition of Irish Senate.

9. Composition of Irish House of Commons.

10. Money Bills.

11. Disagreement between two Houses of Irish Parliament.

12. Privileges, qualifications, &c., of Members of Irish Parliament.

Irish Representation in the House of Commons.

13. Representation of Ireland in the House of Commons of the

United Kingdom.

Finance.

14. Irish revenue and expenditure.

15. Powers of Irish Parliament with respect to taxation.

16. Relations between Great Britain and Ireland as respects

Customs and Excise duties.

17. Supplemental provisions as to Transferred Sum and Irish

revenue.

18. Charge on Transferred Sum of sums charged on the Guarantee

Fund.

19. Development fund and road improvement grant.

20. Irish Church Fund.

21. Supplemental provisions as to Irish Exchequer and

Consolidated Fund.

22. Joint Exchequer Board.

23. Charge of Irish Government loans on Transferred Sum and

management by Joint Exchequer Board.

24. Ascertainment of true Irish revenue.

187

188

APPENDIX

32.
33.

34.
35.

36.

CLAU8B.

25. Alteration of taxes to be treated as increases or reductions

of taxes as the case may be.

26. Revision of financial arrangements in certain events.

Provisions as to Judicial Power.

27. Tenure of office by judges.

28. Irish appeals.

29. Special provision for decision of constitutional questions.

30. Appeal in cases where the validity of an Irish law is questioned,

Lord Lieutenant.

31. Office of Lord Lieutenant.

Provisions as to Existing Judges and Irish Officers.
Provisions as to existing judges and other persons havii

salaries charged on the Consolidated Fund.
Continuation of service of, and compensation to, existii

officers.

Establishment of Civil Service Committee.
Provisions as to existing pensions and superannuate

allowances.
Definition of Irish officer, and provision as to officers in wlic

case questions may arise, &c.

Provisions as to Members of Police.

37. Continuation of service of, and compensation to, members

police forces.

General.

38. Continuation of existing laws, institutions, &c.

39. Use of Crown lands by Irish Government.

40. Arrangements between departments of United Kingdom and

Irish departments for exercise of powers and duties.

41. Current legislation.

42. Special provisions as to Dublin University, Trinity College,

Dublin, and the Queen's University of Belfast.

43. Special provisions as to Freemasons.

44. Repeal of s. 16 of 21 & 22 Geo. 3. c. 11. Irish.

45. First election of reduced number of Irish members

application of election laws.

46. Temporary provision as to payments into and out of tl

Irish exchequer.

47. Power to make Irish Transfer Orders in Council.

48. Irish Transfer Orders to be laid before Parliament.

49. Commencement of Act and appointed day.

50. Definitions.

51. Short title.
SCHEDULES.

Supplemental.

APPENDIX 189

A BILL

INTITULED

AN ACT TO AMEND THE PROVISION FOR THE GOVERNMENT
OF IRELAND.

BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and
with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled,
and by the authority of the same, as follows —

Legislative Authority.

1. — (1) On and after the appointed day there shall be in Ireland
an Irish Parliament consisting of His Majesty the King and two
Houses, namely, the Irish Senate and the Irish House of Commons.

(2) Notwithstanding the establishment of the Irish Parliament
or anything contained in this Act, the supreme power and authority
of the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall remain unaffected
and undiminished over all persons, matters, and things in Ireland
and every part thereof.

2. Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Irish Parliament
shall have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good
government of Ireland with the following limitations, namely,
that they shall not have power to make laws except in respect of
matters exclusively relating to Ireland or some part thereof, and
(without prejudice to that general limitation) that they shall not
have power to make laws in respect of the following matters in
particular, or any of them, namely —

(1) The Crown, or the succession to the Crown, or a Regency,
or the property of the Crown (including foreshore) or the Lord
Lieutenant except as respects the exercise of his executive power
in relation to Irish services as defined for the purposes of this Act ; or

(2) The making of peace or war or matters arising from a state
of war ; or the regulation of the conduct of any portion of His
Majesty's subjects during the existence of hostilities between
Foreign States with which His Majesty is at peace, in relation to
those hostilities ; or

(3) The navy, the army, the territorial force, or any other naval
or military force, or the defence of the realm, or any other naval
or military matter ; or

(4) Treaties, or any relations, with Foreign States, or relations
with other parts of His Majesty's dominions, or matters involving
the contravention of treaties or agreements with foreign states or
any part of His Majesty's dominions, or offences connected with
any such treaties or relations, or procedure connected with the
extradition of criminals under any treaty, or the return of fugitive
offenders from or to any part of His Majesty's dominions ; or

(5) Dignities or titles of honour ; or

190 APPENDIX

(6) Treason, treason felony, alienage, naturalisation, or aliens
as such, or domicile ; or

(7) Trade with any place out of Ireland (except so far as trade
may be affected by the exercise of the powers of taxation given to
the Irish Parliament, or by the regulation of importation for the
sole purpose of preventing contagious disease, or by steps taken, by
means of inquiries or agencies out of Ireland, for the improvement
of Irish trade or for the protection of Irish traders from fraud) ;
the granting of bounties on the export of goods ; quarantine ; or
navigation, including merchant shipping (except as respects inland
waters, the regulations of harbours, and local health regulations) ; or

(8) Any postal services and the rates of charge therefor (except
postal communication between one place in Ireland and another
such place, and any other postal service which is executed com-
pletely in Ireland) ; designs for stamps, whether for postal or
revenue purposes ; or

(9) Lighthouses, buoys, or beacons (except so far as they can
consistently with any general Act of the Parliament of the United
Kingdom be constructed or maintained by a local harbour authority);
or

(10) Coinage; legal tender; or any change in the standard of
weights and measures ; or

(11) Trade marks, designs, merchandise marks, copyright, or
patent rights ; or

(12) Any of the following matters (in this Act referred to as
reserved matters), namely —

(a) The general subject-matter of the Acts relating to Land
Purchase in Ireland, the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 and 1911,
the National Insurance Act, 1911, and the Labour Exchanges
Act, 1909;

(b) The collection of taxes ;

(c) The Royal Irish Constabulary and the management and
control of that force ;

(d) Post Office Savings Banks, Trustee Savings Banks, and
Friendly Societies ; and

(«) Public loans made in Ireland before the passing of this

Act;

Provided that the limitation on the powers of the Irish Parlia-
ment under this section shall cease as respects any such reserved
matter if the corresponding reserved service is transferred to the
Irish Government under the provisions of this Act :

Any law made in contravention of the limitations imposed by
this section shall, so far as it contravenes those limitations, be void.

8. In the exercise of their power to make laws under this Act
the Irish Parliament shall not make a law so as either directly or
indirectly to establish or endow any religion, or prohibit or restrict
the free exercise thereof, or give a preference, privilege, or advantage,
or impose any disability or disadvantage, on account of religious

APPENDIX 191

belief or religious or ecclesiastical status, or make any religious
belief or religious ceremony a condition of the validity of any
marriage, or affect prejudicially the right of any child to attend a
school receiving public money without attending the religious
instruction at that school, or alter the constitution of any religious
body except where the alteration is approved on behalf of the
religious body by the governing body thereof, or divert from any
religious denomination the fabric of cathedral churches or, except
for the purpose of roads, railways, lighting, water, or drainage works,
or other works of public utility upon payment of compensation,
any other property.

Any law made in contravention of the restrictions imposed by
this section shall, so far as it contravenes those restrictions, be void.

Executive A uthority.

4. — (1) The executive power in Ireland shall continue vested in
His Majesty the King, and nothing in this Act shall affect the
exercise of that power except as respects Irish services as defined
for the purposes of this Act.

(2) As respects those Irish services the Lord Lieutenant or other
chief executive officer or officers for the time being appointed in
his place, on behalf of His Majesty, shall exercise any prerogative
or other executive power of His Majesty the exercise of which may
be delegated to him by His Majesty.

(3) The power so delegated shall be exercised through such Irish
Departments as may be established by Irish Act or, subject to any
alteration by Irish Act, by the Lord Lieutenant, and the Lord
Lieutenant may appoint officers to administer those Departments,
and those officers shall hold office during the pleasure of the Lord
Lieutenant.

(4) The persons who are for the time being heads of such Irish
Departments as may be determined by Irish Act or, in the absence
of any such determination, by the Lord Lieutenant, and such other
persons (if any) as the Lord Lieutenant may appoint, shall be the
Irish Ministers.

Provided that —

(a) No such person shall be an Irish Minister unless he is a
member of the Privy Council of Ireland ; and

(6) No such person shall hold office as an Irish Minister for a
longer period than six months, unless he is or becomes a member
of one of the Houses of the Irish Parliament ; and

(c) Any such person not being the head of an Irish Department
shall hold office as an Irish Minister during the pleasure of the
Lord Lieutenant in the same manner as the head of an Irish
Department holds his office.

(5) The persons who are Irish Ministers for the time being shall
be an Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Ireland (in
this Act referred to as the " Executive Committee "), to aid and

14— (2333)

192 APPENDIX

advise the Lord Lieutenant in the exercise of his executive power
in relation to Irish services.

(6) In the exercise of powers delegated to the Lord Lieutenant
in pursuance of this section no preference, privilege, or advantage
shall be given to, nor shall any disability or disadvantage be imposed
on, any person on account of religious belief, except where the
nature of the case in which the power is exercised itself involves
the giving of such preference, privilege, or advantage, or the imposing
of such a disability or disadvantage.

(7) For the purposes of this Act, " Irish services " are all public
services in connection with the administration of the civil government
of Ireland except the administration of matters with respect to
which the Irish Parliament have no power to make laws, including
in the exception all public services in connexion with the adminis-
tration of the reserved matters (in this Act referred to as " reserved
services ").

5. — (1) The public services in connexion with the administration
of the Acts relating to the Royal Irish Constabulary and the manage-
ment and control of that force, shall by virtue of this Act be
transferred from the Government of the United Kingdom to the
Irish Government on the expiration of a period of six years from
the appointed day and those public services shall then cease to be
reserved services and become Irish services.

(2) If a resolution is passed by both Houses of the Irish Parlia-
ment providing for the transfer from the Government of the United
Kingdom to the Irish Government of the following reserved services,
namely —

(a) All public services in connexion with the administration
of the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 and 1911 ; or

(b) All public services in connexion with the administration
of Part I of the National Insurance Act, 1911 ; or

(c) All public services in connexion with the administration
of Part II of the National Insurance Act, 1911, and the Labour
Exchanges Act, 1909 ; or

(d) All public services in connexion with the administration
of Post Office Savings Banks, Trustee Savings Banks, and
Friendly Societies ;

the public services to which the resolution relates shall be transferred
accordingly as from a date fixed by the resolution, being a date
not less than a year after the date on which the resolution is passed,
and shall on the transfer taking effect cease to be reserved services
and become Irish services :

Provided that this provision shall not take effect as respects
the transfer of the services in connexion with Post Office Savings
Banks, Trustee Savings Banks, and Friendly Societies until the
expiration of ten years from the appointed day.

(3) On any transfer under or by virtue of this section, the general
provisions of this Act (so far as applicable) and the provisions of

APPENDIX 193

this Act as to existing Irish officers shall apply with respect to the
transfer, with the substitution of the date of the transfer for the
appointed day or the date of the passing of this Act.

Irish Parliament.

6. — (1) There shall be a session of the Irish Parliament once
at least in every year, so that twelve months shall not intervene
between the last sitting of the Parliament in one session and their
first sitting in the next session.

(2) The Lord Lieutenant shall, in His Majesty's name, summon,
prorogue, and dissolve the Irish Parliament.

7. The Lord Lieutenant shall give or withhold the assent of His
Majesty to Bills passed by the two Houses of the Irish Parliament,
subject to the following limitations ; namely —

(1) He shall comply with any instructions given by His Majesty
in respect of any such Bill ; and

(2) He shall, if so directed by His Majesty, postpone giving the
assent of His Majesty to any such Bill presented to him for assent
for such period as His Majesty may direct.

8. — (1) The Irish Senate shall consist of forty senators nominated
as respects the first senators by the Lord Lieutenant subject to any
instructions given by His Majesty in respect of the nomination, and
afterwards elected by the four provinces of Ireland as separate
constituencies in the number stated in the Third Part of the First
Schedule to this Act.

(2) The election of senators shall be according to the principle
of proportional representation, the electors being the same electors
as the electors of members returned by constituencies in Ireland
to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and each elector
having one transferable vote.

His Majesty may by Order in Council frame regulations pre-
scribing the method of voting at elections of senators and of
transferring and counting votes at such an election and the mode
of appointment and duties of returning officers in connexion there-
with, and any such regulations shall have effect as if they were
enacted in this Act.

(3) The term of office of every senator shall be five years, and
shall not be affected by a dissolution ; the senators, at the end of
their term of office, shall retire all together, and their seats shall
be filled by a new election.

(4) If the place of a senator becomes vacant before the expiration
of his term of office, the Lord Lieutenant shall, unless the place
becomes vacant not more than six months before the expiration
of that term of office, cause a writ to be issued for electing a senator
in the stead of the senator whose place is vacant, if that senator
was an elected senator, and if he was a nominated senator nominate
a senator in his place, but any senator so elected or nominated to

194 APPENDIX

fill a vacancy shall hold office only so long as the senator in whose
stead he is elected or nominated would have held office.

9. — (1) The Irish House of Commons shall consist of one hundred
and sixty-four members, returned by the constituencies in Ireland
named in the First Part of the First Schedule to this Act in accord-
ance with that Schedule, and elected by the same electors and in
the same manner as members returned by constituencies in Ireland
to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

(2) In any constituency which returns three or more members
the election shall be held on the principle of proportional
representation and each elector shall have one transferable vote.

(3) The Irish House of Commons when summoned shall, unless
sooner dissolved, have continuance for five years from the day on
which the summons directs the House to meet and no longer.

(4) After three years from the day of the first meeting of the
Irish Parliament, the Irish Parliament may alter, as respects the
Irish House of Commons, the qualification and registration of the
electors, the law relating to elections and the questioning of elections,
the constituencies, and the distribution of the members of the
House among the constituencies, provided that in any new
distribution the number of the members of the House shall not be
altered, and due regard shall be had to the population of the
constituencies other than University constituencies.

10. — (1) Bills appropriating revenue or money, or imposing
taxation shall originate only in the Irish House of Commons, but
a Bill shall not be taken to appropriate revenue or money, or to
impose taxation by reason only of its containing provisions for the
imposition or appropriation of fines or other pecuniary penalties,
or for the payment or appropriation of fees for licences or fees for
services under the Bill.

(2) The Irish House of Commons shall not adopt or pass any
vote, resolution, address, or Bill for the appropriation for any pur-
pose of any part of the public revenue of Ireland or of any tax, except
in pursuance of a recommendation from the Lord Lieutenant in the
session in which the vote, resolution, address, or Bill is proposed.

(3) The Irish Senate may not reject any Bill which deals only
with the imposition of taxation or appropriation of revenue or money
for the services of the Irish Government, and may not amend any
Bill so far as the Bill imposes taxation or appropriates revenue or
money for the services of the Irish Government, and the Irish Senate
may not amend any Bill so as to increase any proposed charges or
burden on the people. This provision shall apply to the failure in
any session to pass a Money Bill which has been sent up to the Irish
Senate at least one month before the end of the session as it applies
to the actual rejection of such a Bill.

(4) Any Bill which appropriates revenue or money for the ordinary
annual services of the Irish Government shall deal only with that
appropriation.

APPENDIX 195

11. — (1) If the Irish House of Commons pass any public Bill
which is sent up to the Irish Senate at least one month before the
end of the session and the Irish Senate reject or fail to pass it, or
pass it with amendments to which the Irish House of Commons will
not agree, and if the Irish House of Commons in the next session
again pass the Bill with or without any amendments which have
been made or agreed to by the Irish Senate, and the Irish Senate
reject or fail to pass it, or pass it with amendments to which the
Irish House of Commons will not agree, the Lord Lieutenant may
during that session convene a joint sitting of the members of the
two Houses.

(2) The members present at any such joint sitting may deliberate
and shall vote together upon the Bill as last proposed by the Irish
House of Commons, and upon the amendments (if any) which have
been made therein by the one House and not agreed to by the other;
and any such amendments which are affirmed by a majority of the
total number of members of the two Houses present at the sitting
shall be taken to have been carried.

(3) If the Bill with the amendments (if any) so taken to have been
carried is affirmed by a majority of the total number of members
of the two Houses present at any such sitting, it shall be taken to
have been duly passed by both Houses.

(4) This section shall apply, with the necessary modifications,
in the case of the failure of the Irish Senate to pass a resolution
providing for a transfer from the Government of the United Kingdom
to the Irish Government of a reserved service when the Irish House
of Commons have passed such a resolution, as it applies to the
failure of the Irish Senate to pass a Bill which has been passed by
the Irish House of Commons.

12. — (1) The powers, privileges, and immunities of the Irish
Senate and of the Irish House of Commons, and of the members
and of the committees of the Irish Senate and the Irish House of
Commons, shall be such as may be defined by Irish Act, but so that
they shall never exceed those for the time being held and enjoyed
by the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom and
its members and committees, and, until so defined, shall be those
held and enjoyed by the Commons House of Parliament of the
United Kingdom, and its members and committees at the date of
the passing of this Act.

(2) The law, as for the time being in force, relating to the qualifica-
tion and disqualification of members of the Commons House of
Parliament of the United Kingdom, and the taking of any oath
required to be taken by a member of that House, shall apply to
members of the Irish Senate and the Irish House of Commons.

(3) Any peer, whether of the United Kingdom, Great Britain,
England, Scotland, or Ireland, shall be qualified to be a member
of either House.

(4) A member of either House shall be incapable of being nominated

196 APPENDIX

or elected, or of sitting, as a member of the other House, but
an Irish Minister who is a member of either House shall have the
right to sit and speak in both Houses, but shall vote only in the
House of which he is a member.

(5) A member of either House may resign his seat by giving
notice of resignation to the person and in the manner directed by
standing orders of the House, or if there is no such direction, by
notice in writing of resignation sent to the Lord Lieutenant, and
his seat shall become vacant on notice of resignation being given.

(6) The powers of either House shall not be affected by any
vacancy therein, or by any defect in the nomination, election, or
qualification, of any member thereof.

(7) His Majesty may by Order in Council declare that the
holders of the offices in the Irish Executive named in the Order
shall not be disqualified for being members of either House of the
Irish Parliament by reason of holding office under the Crown, and
except as otherwise provided by Irish Act, the Order shall have
effect as if it were enacted in this Act, but on acceptance of any
such office the seat of any such person in the Irish House of Commons
shall be vacated unless he has accepted the office in succession to
some other of the said offices.

Irish Representation in the House of Commons.
13. Unless and until the Parliament of the United Kingdom
otherwise determine, the following provisions shall have effect : —

(1) After the day of the first meeting of the Irish Parliament
the number of members to be returned by constituencies in Ireland
to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall be forty-two
and the constituencies returning those members shall (in lieu of
the existing constituencies) be the constituencies named in the
second Part of the First Schedule to this Act, and no University
in Ireland shall return a member to the Parliament of the United
Kingdom.

(2) The election laws and the laws relating to the qualification
of parliamentary electors shall not, so far as they relate to elections
of members returned by constituencies in Ireland to serve in the
Parliament of the United Kingdom, be altered by the Irish Parlia-
ment, but this enactment shall not prevent the Irish Parliament
from dealing with any officers concerned with the issue of writs
of election, and if any officers are so dealt with, it shall be lawful
for His Majesty by Order in Council to arrange for the issue of any
such writs, and the writs issued in pursuance of the Order shall be
of the same effect as if issued in manner heretofore accustomed.

Finance.

14. — (1) There shall be an Irish Exchequer and an Irish
Consolidated Fund separate from those of the United Kingdom.

APPENDIX 197

(2) The proceeds of all taxes levied in Ireland, whether under
the authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom or of the
Irish Parliament, shall be paid into the Exchequer of the United
Kingdom, but subject as hereinafter provided, there shall be
charged on and paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the United
Kingdom or the growing produce thereof in each year to the Irish
Exchequer a sum (in this Act referred to as " the Transferred Sum ")
consisting of —

(a) such sum as may be determined by the Joint Exchequer
Board established under this Act (hereinafter referred to as the
Joint Exchequer Board) to represent the net cost to the Exche-
quer of the United Kingdom at the time of the passing of this
Act of Irish services ; and

(b) a sum of five hundred thousand pounds, diminishing in
each year after the third year of payment by the sum of fifty
thousand pounds until it is reduced to the sum of two hundred
thousand pounds ; and

(c) a sum equal to the proceeds as determined by the Joint
Exchequer Board of any Irish taxes imposed in Ireland by the

Irish Parliament under the powers given to them by this Act.

(3) Provision shall be made by the Irish Parliament for the cost
of Irish services within the meaning of this Act, and except as
provided by this Act, any charge on the Consolidated Fund of the
United Kingdom for those services, including any charge for the
benefit of the Local Taxation (Ireland) Account, or any grant or
contribution out of moneys provided by the Parliament of the
United Kingdom so far as made for those services shall cease, and
money for loans in Ireland shall cease to be advanced either by the
Public Works Loans Commissioners or out of the Local Loans
Fund.

15. — (1) The Irish Parliament shall have power to vary (either
by way of addition, reduction, or discontinuance) any Imperial
tax so far as respects the levy of that tax in Ireland, and to impose
in Ireland any independent tax not being in the opinion of the Joint
Exchequer Board substantially the same in character as an Imperial
tax, subject to the following limitations : —

(a) The Irish Parliament shall not have power to impose or
charge a Customs duty, whether an import or an export duty,
on any article unless that article is for the time being liable to a
Customs duty of a like character levied as an Imperial tax, and
shall not have power to vary, except by way of addition, any
Customs duty levied as an Imperial tax, or any Excise duty so
levied where there is a corresponding Customs duty ; and

(b) The benefit to accrue to the Irish Exchequer from any
addition to any Customs duty levied as an Imperial tax (other
than a Customs duty on beer or spirits) , or to any duty of income
tax so levied, or to any death duty so levied, shall be limited as
in this Act provided ; and

198 APPENDIX

(c) The power of the Irish Parliament to vary an Imperial
tax, so far as income tax (not including super-tax) is concerned,
shall only be exercised so as to alter the conditions under which
any exemption, abatement, or relief from the tax may be granted
to persons resident in Ireland without varying the rate of the tax,
and, so far as any customs duty or any death duty is concerned,
shall only be exercised so as to vary the rate of the duty without
otherwise altering the provisions with respect to the duty, or
discriminating in that variation between persons, articles, or
property, and where the duty is one of two or more correlated
duties, or is a duty levied at a varying rate, shall not be exercised
without varying proportionately all the correlated duties or all
the rates of duty ; and

(d) The Irish Parliament shall not so vary a death duty as to
impose the duty on the personal property (not being a lease-
holder's or tenant's interest in land) of any person domiciled in
Great Britain ; and

(e) The power of the Irish Parliament to vary an Imperial
tax shall not be exercised with respect to the stamp duties
mentioned in the Second Schedule to this Act ; and

(/) The Irish Parliament shall not, in the exercise of their
powers of taxation under this provision, make any variation of
Customs or Excise duties the effect of which will be, in the opinion
of the Joint Exchequer Board, to cause the Customs duty on an
article of a class produced, prepared, or manufactured in Ireland,
to exceed the Excise duty by more than an amount reasonably
sufficient to cover any expenses due to revenue restrictions, or
any variation of Customs or Excise drawbacks or allowances
which would cause the amount of drawback or allowance payable
in respect of any article to be more than reasonably sufficient, in
the opinion of the Joint Exchequer Board, to cover the duty
paid thereon, and any expenses due to revenue restrictions ;
and the power of the Irish Parliament to make laws includes a
power to make laws for the purpose of giving effect to their powers
of taxation under this Act.
(2) For the purposes of this Act —

(a) The expression " Imperial tax " means any tax charged
for the time being in Ireland under the authority of the Parlia-
ment of the United Kingdom, and includes a tax which has been
discontinued under the powers given by this section to the Irish
Parliament, but which would have been so charged but for the
discontinuance ;

(b) The expression " Irish tax " means any tax charged under
the authority of the Irish Parliament either by way of an addition
to an Imperial tax or as an independent tax.

16. — (1) Any articles which are brought into Great Britain from
Ireland or into Ireland from Great Britain shall be deemed to be
articles exported or imported for the purposes of the forms to be

APPENDIX 199

used and the information to be furnished under the Customs Con-
solidation Act, 1876, and section four of the Revenue Act, 1909,
and for the purpose of any duty or drawback payable in the circum-
stances for which provision is made under this section, but not for
any other purpose.

(2) When a Customs duty is levied in one country and not in
the other, or is levied in both countries but at a higher rate in the
one country than in the other, duty shall be charged and drawback
allowed in respect of articles being articles produced, prepared, or
manufactured abroad as follows : —

(a) The Customs duty shall be charged on any such articles
brought into the one country from the other country as if they
were articles imported from abroad, except that in the case of
articles produced abroad but manufactured or prepared in the
country from which they are sent, the Customs duty charged
shall, if the drawback which would be allowed on the exportation
of similar articles from the country into which the articles are
brought is less than the duty payable on importation, be a duty
equal to the drawback, and if the duty is payable in respect of
any such articles on delivery from bond, after manufacture or
preparation in bond, a duty equal to that which would have been
paid under similar circumstances in respect of the same article in
the country into which the article is brought ; and

(b) A drawback shall be allowed on any such articles sent from
the one country into the other equal to the drawback which would
be allowed upon the exportation of the articles from the country
from which they are sent.

(3) Where an Excise duty is levied in one country and not in the
other, or is levied in both countries but at a higher rate in the one
country than in the other, duty shall be charged and drawback
allowed in respect of articles being articles produced, prepared or
manufactured in either country as follows : —

(a) A Customs duty shall be charged on any such articles
brought into the one country from the other country as if they
were articles imported from abroad, equal to the amount of the
Excise duty levied on similar articles in the country into which
they are brought, or if there is no such Excise duty in the country
from which the articles are sent, a duty equal to the drawback
allowed on the exportation of similar articles manufactured or
prepared in the country into which the article is brought or, if
there is no such drawback, equal to the Customs duty payable
on the importation of a similar article into the country into which
the article is brought ; and

(b) A drawback shall be allowed on any such articles sent from
the one country into the other equal to the amount of the Excise
duty levied in the country from which they are sent in cases
where a drawback would be allowed on the exportation of the
articles from that country or, if no Excise duty is levied in the

200 APPENDIX

country into which the articles are sent, equal to the drawback

allowed on exportation.

The Excise duty on a licence granted to a manufacturer of any
article, the amount of which varies either directly or indirectly
according to the amount of the article manufactured, shall be
treated for the purposes of this subsection as an Excise duty on
the article manufactured.

(4) The proceeds of any Customs duty charged under this section
in Ireland on any article shall to the extent to which they exceed
the proceeds of the Customs or Excise duty which would have been
charged on the article in Great Britain be deemed to be the proceeds
of a Customs duty levied as an Irish tax, if the duty is charged in
respect of a difference of Customs duties, and be deemed to be the
proceeds of an Excise duty levied as an Irish tax if the duty is
charged in respect of a difference of Excise duties, and as to the
balance be deemed to be the proceeds of an Imperial tax.

(5) Nothing in this section shall affect any enactment under
which articles deposited in a bonded warehouse without payment
of duty may be transferred from one country to the other country.

17. — (1) The Transferred Sum shall be paid to the Irish Exche-
quer at such times and in such manner and according to such
regulations as the Joint Exchequer Board may direct.

(2) In the event of the reduction or discontinuance of any
Imperial tax by the Irish Parliament, the Transferred Sum shall
be reduced in each year by such sum as may be determined by the
Joint Exchequer Board to represent the amount by which the
proceeds of the tax are diminished in that year in consequence of
the reduction or discontinuance.

(3) If in any financial year the proceeds of any Irish tax imposed
as an addition to any Customs duty levied as an Imperial tax (other
than a Customs duty on beer or spirits), or to any duty of Income
Tax so levied, or to any death duty so levied, exceed one-tenth of
the proceeds in Ireland of that duty as levied as an Imperial tax
for the same period, the amount of the excess shall not be treated
for the purposes of this Act as part of the proceeds of the Irish tax,
and the amount payable to the Irish Exchequer in respect of the
proceeds of the Irish tax shall be reduced accordingly :

Provided that —

(a) For the purposes of this provision, the proceeds of any tax
shall be deemed to be the proceeds as determined by the Joint
Exchequer Board ; and

(6) The foregoing provision shall not apply so far as the excess
is solely due to the reduction of the rate of the Imperial tax.

(4) When an Imperial tax has been varied by the Irish Parlia-
ment, the Joint Exchequer Board, in determining for the purpose
of this Act the proceeds in Ireland of the Irish tax in the case of a
variation by tax of addition, or the amount by which the proceeds
of the Imperial tax are diminished in the case of a variation by way

APPENDIX 201

of reduction or discontinuance, shall consider what the amount of
the proceeds in Ireland of the Imperial tax would have been if the
variation had not been made, and in the case of a variation by way
of addition shall treat any excess over that amount as the proceeds
of the Irish tax, and in the case of a variation by way of reduction
or discontinuance shall treat any deficiency below that amount
as the amount by which the proceeds of the Imperial tax have been
diminished by reason of the reduction or discontinuance.

If in a case of variation by way of addition it is found that there
is a deficiency below instead of an excess over the amount which
would have been, in the opinion of the Joint Exchequer Board, the
proceeds in Ireland of the Imperial tax if the variation had not
been made, the amount of that deficiency shall be deducted from
the Transferred Sum in accordance with regulations made by the
Treasury.

(5) Where an independent tax is imposed by the Irish Parliament,
the Joint Exchequer Board shall in each year lay before the Com-
mons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom a report as to
the yield and cost of collection of the tax, and if that House pass a
resolution declaring that the additional expense caused to the United
Kingdom Exchequer by the cost of the collection of the tax is exces-
sive compared with the yield of the tax, and that the whole or any
specified part of the cost of collection of the tax should be deducted
from the Transferred Sum, an amount equal to the whole or the
specified part of the cost of collection shall be deducted from the
Transferred Sum accordingly in accordance with regulations made
by the Treasury.

(6) When any reserved service is transferred from the Govern-
ment of the United Kingdom to the Government of Ireland, the
Transferred Sum shall be increased by such sum as may be deter-
mined by the Joint Exchequer Board to represent the equivalent
of any saving to the Exchequer of the United Kingdom by reason
of the transfer, and in determining that equivalent regard shall be
had to the prospect of any increase or decrease in the cost of that
service which may be expected to arise from causes not being
matters of administration.

The sum by which the Transferred Sum is to be increased in
pursuance of this provision may be fixed by the Joint Exchequer
Board so as to vary during the first ten years after the transfer,
but subject thereto shall be a definite sum.

18. — (1) The charge on the Guarantee Fund under the Irish
Land Purchase Acts in respect of —

(a) sums which owing to the deficiency of the Irish Land
Purchase Account, are paid out of the Consolidated Fund on
account of the dividends and sinking fund payments of Irish
guaranteed land stock under section one of the Purchase of Land
(Ireland) Act, 1891 ; and

(b) sums which, owing to the deficiency of the income of the

202 APPENDIX

Irish Land Purchase Fund, are paid out of the Consolidated Fund

on account of the dividends on stock under section twenty-nine

of the Irish Land Act, 1903 ;

(c) arrears of annual payments under subsection (4) of section

thirty-six of the Irish Land Act, 1903 ;

shall cease, and any such sums or arrears which would under the
Irish Land Purchase Acts have been made good out of the Guarantee
Fund (not being sums or arrears on account of a deficiency in respect
of the issue of stock, or bills, or bonds, at a discount or in respect of
interest or sinking fund which, under section seven of the Irish Land
Act, 1909, are a charge on that portion of the Ireland Development
Grant which forms part of the cash portion of the Guarantee Fund),
shall be made good by means of deductions from the Transferred
Sum under this Act in accordance with regulations made by the
Treasury.

(2) In determining the amount representing the net cost to the
Exchequer of the United Kingdom at the time of the passing of
this Act of Irish services, the Joint Exchequer Board shall treat
the whole of the death duty grant payable under section nineteen
of the Finance Act, 1894, and of the Exchequer contribution payable
under section five of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, and
of the agricultural grant payable under the Local Government
(Ireland) Act, 1898, as part of that cost, without taking into account
any diminution of those grants owing to their being included in the
Guarantee Fund.

19. — (1) Nothing in this Act shall affect the powers of the Trea-
sury or the Development Commissioners or the Road Board with
respect to Ireland under the Development and Road Improvement
Funds Act, 1909, and for the purposes of that Act any Irish depart-
ment shall be deemed to be a Government department within the
meaning of that Act.

(2) So long as a sum equal to the net proceeds of the duties on
motor spirits and the net proceeds of the duties on licences for motor
cars levied in Ireland is paid as part of the road improvement
grant under section ninety of the Finance (1909-10) Act, 1910,
the proceeds of those duties shall not be treated for the purposes
of the financial provisions of this Act as the proceeds of an
Imperial tax levied in Ireland, nor shall the Irish Parliament have
power to vary those duties.

20. — (1) The Irish Church Temporalities Fund shall belong to
the Irish Government and be managed, administered, and disposed
of as directed by Irish Act :

Provided that all existing charges on that fund shall, if and so
far as not paid, be paid out of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom,
and be made good by means of deductions from the Transferred
Sum under this Act in accordance with regulations made by the
Treasury.

(2) The Irish Church Temporalities Fund means the fund under

APPENDIX 203

the control of the Land Commission by virtue of the Irish Church
Act Amendment Act, 1881.

21. — (1) All sums paid into the Irish Exchequer shall form a
Consolidated Fund, and be appropriated to the public service of
Ireland by Irish Act, and shall not be applied for any purpose for
which they are not so appropriated.

(2) Save as may be otherwise provided by Irish Act, the existing
law relating to the Exchequer and Consolidated Fund of the United
Kingdom shall apply with the necessary modifications to the Irish
Exchequer and the Irish Consolidated Fund, and an officer shall be
appointed by the Lord Lieutenant to be the Irish Comptroller and
Auditor-General.

(3) Save as may be otherwise provided by Irish Act, the accounts
of the Irish Consolidated Fund shall be audited as Appropriation
Accounts, in manner provided by the Exchequer and Audit Depart-
ments Act, 1866, and any Act amending the same, by or under the
direction of the Irish Comptroller and Auditor-General.

22. — (1) For the purposes of the financial provisions of this Act
there shall be established a Board to be called the Joint Exchequer
Board, consisting of two members appointed by the Treasury and
two members appointed by the Irish Treasury and a Chairman
appointed by His Majesty.

(2) It shall be the duty of the Joint Exchequer Board to determine
any matter which is to be determined by the Board under this Act,
or in pursuance of any Irish Transfer Order in Council made under
this Act, and also to determine any other matter in connexion with
the Transferred Sum, or Irish revenue or expenditure, or the cost
of any reserved service, which may be referred to them for deter-
mination by the Treasury and the Irish Treasury jointly, and,
subject to the provisions of this Act as to appeals from decisions
of the Board, the decision of the Board on any matter which is to
be determined by them shall be final and conclusive.

(3) Any vacancy arising in the office of a member of the Board
shall be filled by the authority by whom the member whose place
is vacant was appointed.

(4) The Board may act by a majority ; the quorum at any
meeting of the Board shall be three ; subject to the provisions of
this Act the Board may regulate their own procedure.

23. — (1) If provision is made by Irish Act for securing any loan
raised by the Government of Ireland upon the Transferred Sum
and for the payment of such part of the Transferred Sum as in the
opinion of the Joint Exchequer Board may be required for the ser-
vices of the loan in each year direct to that Board, the Board may
undertake on behalf of the Irish Government the issue and manage-
ment of the loan and the application of the money paid to them
for the services of the loan.

(2) Where provision is so made for the payment of a part of the
Transferred Sum to the Joint Exchequer Board in connexion with

204 APPENDIX

a loan the management of which is undertaken by the Board in
accordance with this section, the Treasury shall cause the requisite
part of the Transferred Sum to be paid to the Joint Exchequer
Board instead of to the Irish Exchequer.

(3) The accounts of the Joint Exchequer' Board in respect of any
sums received by them under this section in connexion with any
loan shall be audited in the same manner as the accounts of the
Irish Consolidated Fund are for the time being audited.

(4) Any stock or securities issued in respect of any loan raised
by the Irish Government shall be deemed to be included amongst
the securities in which a trustee may invest under the powers of the
Trustee Act, 1893, or of the Trusts (Scotland) Acts, 1861 to 1910.

24. In ascertaining for the purposes of this Act the proceeds in
Ireland of any Imperial tax or of any Irish tax, the Joint Exchequer
Board shall treat the proceeds collected in Ireland as the proceeds
of the tax in Ireland, subject to such adjustments as the Board
think equitable, with a view to attributing to Ireland any proceeds
of taxes collected in Great Britain but properly attributable to
Ireland, and to attributing to Great Britain any proceeds of taxes
collected in Ireland but properly attributable to Great Britain,
and with a view to meeting cases where the rate of a tax is, or other
conditions affecting the charge of a tax are, different in Great
Britain and Ireland.

25. For the purposes of this Act the withdrawal in whole or in
part of an exemption from a tax shall be treated as the imposition
of an addition to or as the increase of a tax, and the grant or exten-
sion of an exemption from a tax shall be treated as a reduction of a
tax, and any other alteration of the provisions with respect to any
tax in consequence of which the proceeds of the tax are increased
or diminished shall be treated as an increase or reduction of the tax,
as the case may be.

26. — (1) If it appears to the Joint Exchequer Board that during
any three successive years after the passing of this Act, the aggre-
gate of the total proceeds of Imperial taxes in Ireland as determined
by the Board, and the total proceeds of Irish taxes and any other
money available in the year for the payment of the cost of Irish
services, as so determined, together with any share in any miscel-
laneous revenue of the United Kingdom to which the Joint Exche-
quer Board may consider Ireland to be entitled, exceeded in each
of those years the total cost of Irish services, together with the cost
of any services which are for the time being reserved services, the
Board shall present a report to that effect to the Treasury and to
the Lord Lieutenant, and the Treasury and the Lord Lieutenant
shall cause a copy of the report to be laid before the Parliament of
the United Kingdom and the Irish Parliament respectively.

(2) The presentation of such a report shall be taken to be a ground
for the revision by the Parliament of the United Kingdom of the
financial provisions of this Act, with a view to securing a proper

APPENDIX 205

contribution from Irish revenues towards the common expenditure
of the United Kingdom and extending the powers of the Irish
Parliament and the Irish Government with respect to the imposition
and collection of taxes.

(3) For the purpose of revising the financial provisions of this
Act in pursuance of this section, there shall be summoned to the
Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom such number
of members of the Irish House of Commons as will make the repre-
sentation of Ireland in the Commons House of Parliament of the
United Kingdom equivalent to the representation of Great Britain
on the basis of population ; and the members of the Irish House of
Commons so summoned shall be deemed to be members of the
Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom for the
purposes of any such revision.

(4) His Majesty may by Order in Council make such provision
for summoning and selecting in pursuance of this provision the
members of the Irish House of Commons as His Majesty may think
necessary or proper, and any provisions contained in any such
Order in Council shall have the same effect as if they had been
enacted in this Act.

An Order in Council made under this provision shall be laid before
the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom within
forty days next after it is made if that House is then sitting or,
if not, within forty days after the commencement of the then
next ensuing session ; and if an address is presented to His Majesty
by that House within the next twenty-one days on which that
House has sat'next after the Order is laid before it praying that the
Order may be annulled, His Majesty may thereupon by Order in
Council annul the same, and the Order so annulled shall forthwith
become void, but without prejudice to the validity of any proceed-
ings which may in the meantime have been taken under the
Order.

Provisions as to Judicial Power.

27. A judge of the Supreme Court or other superior court in
Ireland, or of any county court or other court with a like jurisdiction
in Ireland, appointed after the appointed day shall be appointed
by the Lord Lieutenant, and shall hold his office by the same tenure
as that by which the office is held at the time of the passing of this
Act, with the substitution of an address from both Houses of the
Irish Parliament for an address from both Houses of the Parliament
of the United Kingdom, and during his continuance in office his
salary shall not be diminished or his right to pension altered without
his consent.

28. — (1) The appeal from courts in Ireland to the House of
Lords shall cease ; and where any person would, but for this Act,
have a right to appeal from any court in Ireland to the House of
Lords, that person shall have the like right to appeal to His Majesty

206 APPENDIX

the King in Council ; and all enactments relating to appeals to
His Majesty the King in Council, and to the Judicial Committee of
the Privy Council, shall apply accordingly.

(2) When the Judicial Committee sit for hearing any appeal
from a court in Ireland in pursuance of any provisions of this Act,
there shall be present not less than four Lords of Appeal, within
the meaning of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876, and at least
one member who is or has been a judge of the Supreme Court in
Ireland.

(3) A rota of privy counsellors to sit for hearing appeals from
courts in Ireland shall be made annually by His Majesty in Council,
and the privy counsellors, or some of them, on that rota shall sit
to hear the said appeals. A casual vacancy occurring in the rota
during the year may be filled by Order in Council.

(4) Any person who is aggrieved by any decision of the Court
of Appeal in any proceedings taken by way of certiorari, mandamus,
quo warranto, or prohibition, shall have a right to appeal to His
Majesty the King in Council in the same manner as if he had such
a right to appeal to the House of Lords before the passing of this
Act.

(5) Nothing in this Act shall affect the jurisdiction of the House
of Lords to determine the claims to Irish peerages.

29. — (1) If it appears to the Lord Lieutenant or a Secretary of
State expedient in the public interest that steps shall be taken for
the speedy determination of the question whether any Irish Act
or any provision thereof, or any Irish Bill or any provision thereof,
is beyond the powers of the Irish Parliament, or whether any
service is an Irish service within the meaning of this Act or not,
or if the Joint Exchequer Board, or any two members of the Board,
in the execution of their duties under this Act, are desirous of
obtaining the decision of any question of the interpretation of this
Act, or other question of law, which arises in connexion with those
duties, the Lord Lieutenant, Secretary of State, or Board, or
members thereof, as the case may be, may represent the same to
His Majesty in Council, and thereupon, if His Majesty so directs,
the said question shall be forthwith referred to and heard and
determined by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council,
constituted as if hearing an appeal from a court in Ireland.

(2) Upon the hearing of the question such persons as seem to
the Judicial Committee to be interested may be allowed to appear
and be heard as parties to the case, and the decision of the Judicial
Committee shall be given in like manner as if it were the decision
of an appeal, the nature of the report or recommendation to His
Majesty being stated in open court.

(3) Nothing in this Act shall prejudice any other power of K
Majesty in Council to refer any question to the Judicial Committee
or the right of any person to petition His Majesty for such reference.

80. — (1) Where any decision of the Court of Appeal in Ireland

APPENDIX 207

involves the decision of any question as to the validity of any law
made by the Irish Parliament, and the decision is not otherwise
subject to an appeal to His Majesty the King in Council, an appeal
shall lie to His Majesty the King in Council by virtue of this section,
but only by leave of the Court of Appeal or His Majesty.

(2) Where any decision of a court in Ireland involves the decision
of any question as to the validity of any law made by the Irish
Parliament, and the decision is not subject to any appeal to the
Court of Appeal in Ireland, an appeal shall lie to the Court of Appeal
in Ireland by virtue of this section.

(3) If any person is dissatisfied with the decision of the Joint
Exchequer Board on the question whether a tax is an independent
tax not substantially the same in character as an Imperial tax,
that person may petition His Majesty in Council to refer the ques-
tion to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ; and, if His
Majesty so direct, the question shall be referred to and heard and
determined by that Committee as if hearing an appeal from a court
in Ireland ; and the determination of the Judicial Committee on
the question shall have effect with respect to the question decided
as if it were the decision of the Joint Exchequer Board.

If any decision of the Joint Exchequer Board under this Act
involves a decision with respect to any question of law, any person
may petition His Majesty in Council to refer the question of law
to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and, if His Majesty
so directs, the question of law shall be referred to and heard and
determined by that Committee constituted as if hearing an appeal
from a court in Ireland ; and if the Judicial Committee determine
that the point of law has been erroneously decided by the Joint
Exchequer Board, they shall report their determination to His
Majesty, and, on such a report being made, the Joint Exchequer
Board shall reconsider their decision with regard to the determination
of the Judicial Committee.

Upon the hearing of any question referred under this subsection,
such persons as seem to the Judicial Committee to be interested
may be allowed to appear and be heard as parties to the case, and
the decision of the Judicial Committee shall be given in like manner
as if it were a decision of an appeal, the nature of the report or
recommendation to His Majesty being stated in open court.

A petition shall not be entertained under this subsection unless
it is presented within six months after the date on which the decision
of the Joint Exchequer Board to which the petition relates has
been published.

Lord Lieutenant.

81. — (1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any Act,
no subject of His Majesty shall be disqualified to hold the office
of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on account of his religious belief.

(2) The term of office of the Lord Lieutenant shall be six years,

15— (2333)

208 APPENDIX

without prejudice to the power of His Majesty at any time to revoke
the appointment, and with the intent that the continuance in office
of the Lord Lieutenant shall not be affected by any change of
ministry.

(3) The salary and expenses of the Lord Lieutenant shall be paid
out of moneys provided by the Parliament of the United Kingdom,
but there shall be deducted from the Transferred Sum in each year
towards the payment of the Lord Lieutenant's salary, a sum of
five thousand pounds.

Provisions as to existing Judges and Irish Officers.
32. — (1) All existing judges of the Supreme Court, and county
court judges, and all existing Irish officers serving in an established
capacity in the civil service of the Crown and receiving salaries
charged on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, shall,
if at the date of the passing of this Act they are removable only on
address from both Houses of Parliament of the United Kingdom,
continue to be removable only upon such an address, and if remov-
able in any other manner shall continue to be removable only in
the same manner as before that date ; and shall continue to receive
the same salaries, gratuities, and pensions, and to enjoy the same
rights and privileges, and be liable to perform the same duties as
before that date or such duties as His Majesty may declare to be
analogous, and their salaries and pensions shall be charged on and
paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom or the
growing produce thereof, and all sums so paid shall be made good
by means of deductions from the Transferred Sum under this Act
in accordance with regulations made by the Treasury.

(2) If any of the said judges or officers retires from office with
His Majesty's approbation before completion of the period of
service entitling him to a pension, His Majesty may, if he thinks fit,
after considering any representation that may be made by the Irish
Government, grant to him such pension, not exceeding the pension
to which he would on that completion have been entitled as His
Majesty thinks proper.

(3) Subsection (1) of this section shall apply to existing Irish
officers in the civil service of the Crown, who, although receiving
salaries not charged on the Consolidated Fund, are removable only
for misconduct or incapacity, including officers removable under
section seventy-three of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act
(Ireland), 1877 : Provided that, in the case of any such officer whose
salary is payable otherwise than out of money provided by the
Parliament of the United Kingdom, the provisions of that sub-
section with respect to the payment of salaries and pensions out of
the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom shall not have
effect, and in the case of any such officer whose salary is payable
out of money provided by the Parliament of the United Kingdom
those provisions shall have effect with the substitution of payment

APPENDIX 209

out of money so provided for charge on and payment out of the
Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom.

33. — (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, all existing Irish
officers in the civil service of the Crown who are not provided for
under the last preceding section and are on the appointed day
serving as Irish officers shall, after that day, continue to hold their
offices by the same tenure and upon the same terms and conditions
(including conditions as to salaries and superannuation) as thereto-
fore and shall be liable to perform the same duties as theretofore,
or such duties as the Civil Service Committee established under
this Act may determine to be analogous, and while performing the
same or analogous duties shall receive not less salaries than they
would have received if this Act had not passed :

Provided that notwithstanding the provision hereinbefore
contained as to the tenure of existing Irish officers any existing
Irish officer who at the time of the passing of this Act is removable
from his office by His Majesty, or by the Chief Secretary, or by any
person other than the Lord Lieutenant, or in any special manner,
may be removed from his office after the appointed day by the Lord
Lieutenant, but, in the case of the existing permanent members
of the Congested Districts Board for Ireland, only by an order of
the Lord Lieutenant, which shall be laid before each House of the
Irish Parliament, and if an address is presented to the Lord Lieu-
tenant by either of those Houses within the next subsequent forty
days on which that House has sat after any such order is laid before
it praying that the order may be annulled, the Lord Lieutenant
may annul the order, and it shall thenceforth be void.

(2) The Superannuation Acts, 1834 to 1909, shall continue after
the appointed day to apply to any such existing Irish officer to
whom they then apply, and the service of any such officer under
the Irish Government shall, for the purpose of those Acts, be deemed
to be service in the permanent civil service of the Crown and in a
public office within the meaning of the Superannuation Act, 1892 :

Provided that so far as relates to the grant and ascertainment
of the amount of any allowance or gratuity under those Acts as
respects any such officer who at the time of his ultimate retirement
is serving under the Irish Government, the Civil Service Committee
shall be substituted for the Treasury.

(3) The provisions as to compensation contained in the Third
Schedule to this Act shall apply with respect to any such existing
Irish officer.

(4) The superannuation and other allowances and gratuities
which may become payable after the appointed day to existing
Irish officers in the civil service of the Crown under the Superannua-
tion Acts, 1834 to 1909, and any compensation payable to any such
officers under the provisions of this Act, shall be paid out of moneys
provided by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, but any sums
so paid shall be made good by means of deductions from the

210 APPENDIX

Transferred Sum under this Act in accordance with regulations
made by the Treasury.

(5) Where any existing Irish officer in the civil service of the
Crown to whom the Superannuation Acts, 1834 to 1909, do not
apply is on the appointed day serving as an Irish officer in a capacity
which, in accordance with a condition of his employment, qualifies
him for a superannuation allowance or gratuity payable otherwise
than under those Acts, that condition shall after the appointed day
have effect, subject to the following modifications, that is to say,
any superannuation allowance or gratuity which may become
payable to the officer in accordance with that condition after the
appointed day shall, if and so far as the fund out of which such
allowances and gratuities are payable at the time of the passing of
this Act is by reason of anything done or omitted after the passing
of this Act not available for its payment, be charged upon and paid
out of the Irish Consolidated Fund, and any powers and duties
of the Treasury as to the grant or ascertainment of the amount
of the superannuation allowance or gratuity, or otherwise in con-
nexion with the condition, shall be exercised and performed by the
Civil Service Committee.

(6) The Pensions Commutation Acts, 1871 to 1882, shall apply
to any person to whom an annual allowance is granted in pursuance
of the provisions of this Act relating to existing officers as they apply
to a person who has retired in consequence of the abolition of his
office, and any terminable annuity payable in respect of the com-
mutation of an allowance shall be payable out of the same funds
as the allowance.

34. — (1) For the purpose of the provisions of this Act with
respect to existing officers there shall be established a committee
to be called the Civil Service Committee.

(2) The committee shall consist of three members, of whom one
shall be appointed by the Treasury, one by the Executive Committee,
and one (who shall be chairman) by the Lord Chief Justice of
England.

(3) Any vacancy arising in the committee shall be filled by the
authority by whom the member whose place is vacant was appointed.

(4) The committee may act by any two members, and, subject
to the provisions of this Act, the committee may regulate their
own procedure.

(5) The determination of the Civil Service Committee on any claim
or question which is to be determined by them under the provisions
of this Act relating to existing officers shall be final and conclusive.

35. — (1) Any pension granted on account of service in Ireland
as a judge of the Supreme Court or of any court consolidated into
that court, or as a county court judge, or as an Irish officer in an
established capacity in the civil service of the Crown, or to any
officer or constable of the Dublin Metropolitan Police or Royal
Irish Constabulary, and payable on the appointed day, or in the

APPENDIX 211

case of an officer or constable of the Royal Irish Constabulary at
the date of transfer, shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund
of the United Kingdom or the growing produce thereof, if charged
on that fund at the time of the passing of this Act, and out of moneys
provided by the Parliament of the United Kingdom if so paid at
that time, and shall be made good by means of deductions from the
Transferred Sum under this Act in accordance with regulations
made by the Treasury.

(2) Any pension payable on the appointed day and granted on
account of service in Ireland as an Irish officer in the civil service
of the Crown not serving in an established capacity or as a petty
sessions clerk or officer in the registry of petty sessions clerks shall,
if and so far as the fund out of which it is payable at the time of
the passing of this Act is by reason of anything done or omitted
after the passing of this Act not available for its payment, be charged
upon and paid out of the Irish Consolidated Fund.

36. — (1) For the purpose of the provisions of this Act relating to
existing officers, any officer shall be deemed to be an Irish officer
who is serving or employed in Irish services within the meaning
of this Act, and the fact that the salary of an Irish officer is provided
in whole or in part out of funds administered by the Government
Department in which he serves, or out of an allowance voted for
the office expenses of the office in which he is employed, or out of
fees, instead of being charged on the Consolidated Fund or paid
out of moneys provided by the Parliament of the United Kingdom,
shall not prevent that officer being treated as an officer in the civil
service of the Crown.

(2) If any question arises whether an officer is an Irish officer
as so denned, or otherwise as to any claim or right of an officer
under the provisions of this Act relating to existing officers, that
question shall be determined by the Civil Service Committee.

(3) If in any case the Civil Service Committee are of opinion that
the service or employment of an officer is such that he is partly
an Irish officer and partly not, that Committee shall determine any
question which arises as respects the proportions in which any
allowance, gratuity, or compensation payable to that officer is to
be paid as between the Exchequer or Consolidated Fund of Ireland
and of the United Kingdom respectively.

Provisions as to Members of Police.

87. — (1) All officers and constables of the Dublin Metropolitan
Police and of the Royal Irish Constabulary who are serving on the
day of transfer shall after that day continue to serve on the same
terms and conditions as theretofore, and shall be liable to perform
the same duties as theretofore, and while so serving shall not receive
less salaries than they would have received if this Act had not
passed.

(2) Any existing enactments relating to the pay or pensions of

212 APPENDIX

officers and constables of the Dublin Metropolitan Police and Royal
Irish Constabulary shall continue to apply after the transfer to any
officer and constable serving on the day of transfer with the sub-
stitution of the Lord Lieutenant for the Treasury and for the Chief
Commissioner or Inspector-General as the case requires.

(3) Where any such officer or constable, being qualified under
the enactments aforesaid to retire on pension for length of service
on or before the day of transfer, continues to serve after that day
he shall, on retiring at any subsequent time, be entitled to receive
a pension not less in amount than that to which he would have
been entitled if he had retired on that day, and his right to receive
such pension shall not, while he continues to serve, be liable to
forfeiture, except in cases in which a pension when granted is liable
to forfeiture under those enactments.

(4) The provisions as to compensation contained in the Fourth
Schedule to this Act shall apply with respect to the officers and
constables of the Dublin Metropolitan Police and of the Royal
Irish Constabulary who are serving on the day of transfer.

(5) Any pensions and other allowances and gratuities which may
become payable to officers and constables of the Dublin Metropolitan
Police after the appointed day or to officers and constables of the
Royal Irish Constabulary after the day of transfer (being in either
case officers and constables who are serving on the day of transfer)
under the existing enactments applicable to them, and any com-
pensation payable to any of those persons under the provisions of
this Act, shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Parliament
of the United Kingdom ; but any sums so paid shall be made good
by means of deductions from the Transferred Sum under this Act
in accordance with the regulations made by the Treasury.

(6) The Pensions Commutation Acts, 1871 to 1882, shall apply
to any member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police or Royal Irish
Constabulary to whom an allowance is granted in pursuance of the
provisions of this section in like manner as if he had retired from the
permanent Civil Service of the Crown on the abolition of his office,
and any terminable annuity payable in respect of the commutation
of an allowance shall be payable out of the same funds as the
allowance.

(7) In this section and in the Fourth Schedule to this Act the
expression " day of transfer " in relation to the Dublin Metro-
politan Police means the appointed day, and in relation to the Royal
Irish Constabulary means the day on which the control and
management of that force are transferred to the Irish Government.

General.

38. All existing laws, institutions, and authorities in Ireland,
whether judicial, administrative, or ministerial, and all existing
taxes in Ireland, shall, except as otherwise provided by this Act,
continue as if this*Act had not passed, but with the modifications

APPENDIX 213

necessary for adapting them to this Act, and subject, as respects
matters within the powers of the Irish Parliament under this Act,
to repeal, abolition, alteration, and adaptation in the manner and
to the extent authorised by this Act.

39. His Majesty the King in Council may place under the control
of the Irish Government, for the purposes of that government,
such of the lands, buildings, and property in Ireland vested in or
held in trust for His Majesty, and subject to such conditions or
restrictions (if any) as may seem expedient.

40. Arrangements may be made by any department of the
Government of the United Kingdom for the exercise and perform-
ance on behalf of that department of any powers or duties of that
department by officers of an Irish department, or by any Irish
department for the exercise and performance on behalf of that
department of any powers or duties of that department by officers
of a department of the Government of the United Kingdom on such
terms and conditions as may be agreed :

Provided that no such arrangements shall diminish in any respect
the responsibility of the department by which the arrangement is
made.

41. — (1) The Irish Parliament shall not have power to repeal
or alter any provision of this Act (except as is specially provided
by this Act), or of any Act passed by the Parliament of the United
Kingdom after the passing of this Act and extending to Ireland,
although that provision deals with a matter with respect to which
the Irish Parliament have powers to make laws.

(2) Where any Act of the Irish Parliament deals with any matter
with respect to which the Irish Parliament have power to make
laws which is dealt with by any Act of the Parliament of the United
Kingdom passed after the passing of this Act and extending to
Ireland, the Act of the Irish Parliament shall be read subject to the
Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and so far as it is
repugnant to that Act, but no further, shall be void :

Provided that nothing in this section shall affect the power of
the Irish Parliament to vary an Imperial tax in accordance with
this Act, or any variation so made.

(3) Any order, rule, or regulation made in pursuance of, or having
the force of, an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom shall be
deemed to be a provision of an Act within the meaning of this
section.

42. No law made by the Irish Parliament shall have effect so as
to alter the constitution, or divert the property of, or repeal or
diminish any existing exemption or immunity enjoyed by the
University of Dublin, or Trinity College, Dublin, or the Queen's
University of Belfast, unless and until the proposed alteration,
diversion, repeal, or diminution is approved, in the case of the
University of Dublin, or Trinity College, Dublin, by a majority of
those present and voting at a meeting of each of the following bodies

214 APPENDIX

convened for the purpose, namely : (a) the governing body of the
College, and (b) the junior fellows and professors voting together,
and (c) the University Council, and (d) the Senate ; and in the case
of the Queen's University of Belfast by a majority of those present
and voting at a meeting of each of the following bodies convened
for the purpose, namely : (a) the Senate, and (b) the Academic
Council, and (c) the Convocation of the University :
Provided that—

(a) This section shall not apply to the taking of property (not
being land in the occupation of or used in connexion with the
College or either of the Universities) for the purpose of roads,
railways, lighting, water, or drainage works, or other works of public
utility upon payment of compensation ; and

(b) There shall be paid annually, out of moneys provided by the
Irish Parliament to the Queen's University of Belfast, a sum of
eighteen thousand pounds for the general purposes of the University,
and that sum if and so far as not so paid shall be deducted on the
order of the Joint Exchequer Board from the Transferred Sum and
paid into the University ; and

(c) Until the Joint Exchequer Board certify that the amount
standing to the credit of the account of Trinity College under
section thirty-nine of the Irish Land Act, 1903, is adequate to afford
the indemnity for which provision is made by that section, there
shall be paid annually out of moneys provided by the Irish Parlia-
ment the sum of five thousand pounds to that account ; and that
sum, if and so far as not so paid, shall be deducted on the order
of the Joint Exchequer Board from the Transferred Sum and paid
to that account.

43. — (1) It is hereby declared that existing enactments relative
to unlawful oaths or unlawful assemblies in Ireland do not apply
to the meetings or proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Free and
Accepted Masons of Ireland, or of any lodge or society recognised
by that Grand Lodge :

Grand Lodge which is enjoyed either by law or custom at the time
of the passing of this Act, and any law made in contravention of
this provision shall, so far as it is in contravention of this provision,
be void.

44. The powers conferred in the sixteenth section of the Act
passed by the Irish Parliament in the session held in the twenty-first
and twenty-second years of the reign of George the Third, chapter
eleven, intituled, " An Act for the better securing the liberty of
the subject," shall not be exercised, and that section is hereby
repealed.

45. — (1) Upon thefirst meeting of the Irish Parliament, the members
returned by constituencies in Ireland to serve in the Parliament

APPENDIX 215

of the United Kingdom and then sitting in that Parliament shall
vacate their seats, and writs shall, as soon as conveniently may be,
be issued by the Lord Chancellor of Ireland for the purpose of holding
an election of members to serve in the Parliament of the United
Kingdom for the constituencies mentioned in the Second part of
the First Schedule to this Act.

(2) All existing election laws relating to the Commons House of
Parliament of the United Kingdom and the members thereof shall,
so far as applicable and subject to the provisions of this Act, and
especially to any provision enabling the Irish Parliament to alter
those laws as respects the Irish House of Commons, extend to the Irish
Senate and the Irish House of Commons and the members thereof.

His Majesty may by Order in Council make such provisions as
may appear to him necessary or proper for making any provisions
of the election laws applicable to elections of members of the Irish
Senate and the Irish House of Commons, and also frame regulations
prescribing the method of voting at an election of members of the
Irish House of Commons, which is held on the principle of pro-
portional representation, and of transferring and counting votes at
such an election.

46. (1) Pending the determination of the Transferred Sum by
the Joint Exchequer Board for the first year in which the Trans-
ferred Sum is to be paid, the Treasury may make such payments
on account of that sum into the Irish Exchequer as the Joint
Exchequer Board may direct.

(2) The Joint Exchequer Board may authorise the Lord Lieu-
tenant to make such payments from the Irish Exchequer as may be
necessary in order to provide for bringing this Act into operation,
but no such authority shall be given after the expiration of a period
of three months from the first meeting of the Irish Parliament.

47. His Majesty may by Orders in Council (in this Act referred
to as Irish Transfer Orders) make such regulations as seem necessary
or proper for setting in motion the Irish Parliament and Government,
«,nd also for any other matter for which it seems to His Majesty
necessary or proper to make provision for the purpose of bringing
this Act into full operation or for giving full effect to any provisions
of this Act or to any future transfer under or by virtue of this Act
of a reserved service ; and in particular His Majesty may by any
such Order in Council —

(a) Make such adaptations of any enactments so far as they
relate to Ireland as may appear to him necessary or proper in order
to give effect to the provisions of this Act, and also make any adapta-
tions of any enactments so far as they relate to England or Scotland,
as may appear to him necessary or proper as a consequence of any
change effected by the provisions of this Act ; and

(&) Make such adaptation of any enactments as appear to him
necessary or proper with respect to the execution of the reserved
services, and in particular provide for the exercise or performance

216 APPENDIX

of any powers or duties in connexion with those services by any
department of the Government of the United Kingdom or officer
of that Government where any such powers or duties are, under
any existing Act, to be exercised or performed by any department
in Ireland which will cease to exist as a department of the Government
of the United Kingdom ; and

(c) Make regulations with respect to the relations of the Irish
and British Post Offices, and in particular may provide for an
apportionment of the capital liabilities of the Post Office between
the Irish Exchequer and the Exchequer of the United Kingdom,
for the execution of postal services by the one Post Office at the
request of and on behalf of the other, and for the terms and
conditions under which the services are to be so executed, for
facilities being given in connexion with any such postal services
at the request of one Post Office by the other, for requiring the
sanction of the British Post Office for the grant of any licence
by the Irish Post Office for wireless telegraphy stations for internal
communications in Ireland, and for the reservation of power to His
Majesty by Order in Council to transfer in time of war or national
emergency the powers or duties of the Irish Post Office to the
British Post Office, or to the naval or military authorities of the
United Kingdom ; and

(d) On any transfer under this Act of the public services in
connexion with the administration of the Old Age Pensions Acts,
1908 and 1911, make provision for securing the payment of an old
age pension to any person who is entitled to the payment of such a
pension at the time of the transfer, while he continues so entitled ; and

(e) On the transfer under this Act of public services in connexion
with Post Office Savings Banks, or Trustee Savings Banks, make
provisions for giving a depositor in any transferred Post Office
Savings Bank the right to repayment of any sums due to him in
respect of his deposits at the time of the transfer, and for giving the
trustees of any Trustee Savings Bank in Ireland the right to close
their bank and to require repayment of all sums due to them from
the National Debt Commissioners, and for securing to the holder
of any annuity or policy of insurance granted before the date of the
transfer by a Post Office or Trustee Savings Bank the payment of
the annuity or of any sums due under the policy ; and

(/) Make provision with respect to the transfer and apportionment
of any property, rights, and liabilities in connexion with Irish
services, and for the proper reductions being made in the payment
of the Transferred Sum for the first year in which it is paid in respect
of any part of that year during which any Irish service is not executed
by the Irish Government ; and

(g) Provide, in cases where the same Act deals with reserved
matters and with other matters, for specifying the matters dealt
with by the Act which are to be treated in accordance with this Act
as reserved matters.

APPENDIX 217

48. — (1) Any Irish Transfer Order in Council made under this Act
shall be laid before both Houses of the Parliament of the United
Kingdom within forty days next after it is made if Parliament is
then sitting, or if not, within forty days after the commencement
of the then next ensuing session ; and if an address is presented to
His Majesty by either of those Houses within the next subsequent
twenty-one days on which that House has sat next after any such
order is laid before it praying that any such Order may be annulled,
His Majesty may thereupon by Order in Council annul the same,
and the Order so annulled shall forthwith become void, but without
prejudice to the validity of any proceedings which may in the
meantime have been taken under the Order.

(2) Any Irish Transfer Order in Council made under this Act
shall, subject to the foregoing provisions of this section, have effect
as if enacted in this Act.

49. This Act shall, except as expressly provided, come into opera-
tion on the appointed day, and the appointed day for the purposes
of this Act shall be the first Tuesday in the eighth month after the
month in which this Act is passed, or such other day not more than
seven months earlier or later, as may be fixed by Order of His
Majesty in Council either generally or with reference to any particular
provision of this Act, and different days may be appointed for different
purposes and different provisions of this Act, but the Irish Parlia-
ment shall be summoned to meet not later than four months after
the said Tuesday, and the appointed day for holding elections for
the Irish House of Commons shall be fixed accordingly.

Supplemental,

50. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

The expression "existing " means existing at the passing of this Act :

The expression " constituency " means a parliamentary con-
stituency, or a county, borough, or university returning a member
or members to serve in the Irish House of Commons as the case
requires, and the expression " parliamentary constituency " means
any county, borough, or university returning a member or members
to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom :

The expression " parliamentary elector " means a person entitled
to be registered as a voter at a parliamentary election :

The expression " parliamentary election " means the election of
a member to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom :

The expression " election laws " means the laws relating to the
election of members to serve in the Parliament of the United King-
dom, other than those relating to the qualification of electors, and
includes all the laws respecting the registration of electors, the issue
and execution of writs, the creation of polling districts, the taking
of the poll, the questioning of elections, corrupt and illegal practices,
the oath, qualification and disqualification of members, and the
vacating of seats ;

218 APPENDIX

The expression " tax " includes duties (other than duties of
postage) and fees (other than fees which are charged in respect
of any special Irish service, and the receipts from which are, in the
opinion of the Joint Exchequer Board, of a character to be properly
treated as appropriation in aid) :

For the purposes of this Act duties on a raw material and on
articles produced, prepared, or manufactured from that material,
and any group of duties fixed in relation to some common basis,
shall be deemed to be correlated duties.

The levy of an Imperial tax in Ireland includes, where the variation
of the tax by the Irish Parliament affects persons resident or domi-
ciled in Ireland, or the property of any personso resident or domiciled,
the levy of the tax on or in respect of such persons or such property.

The expression " postal service " includes any telegraphic and
telephonic service, and the issue, transmission, and payment of
Post Office money orders and postal orders ; and the expression
" postal communication " includes telegraphic and telephonic
communication :

The expression " Irish Act " means a law made by the Irish
Parliament :

The expression " Irish Treasury " means the Irish department
or officer, by whatever name called, for the time being entrusted
with the administration of Irish finance :

The expression " salary " includes remuneration, allowances,
and emoluments :

The expression " pension " includes superannuation allowance,
and in relation to a constable of the Royal Irish Constabulary or
Dublin Metropolitan Police includes a pension or gratuity payable
to the widow or children of a constable :

The expression " office " includes any place, situation, or employ-
ment, and the expression " officer " shall be construed accordingly :

The expression " officer " in relation to the Royal Irish Constabu-
lary includes the Inspector-General, the Deputy-Inspector-General,
an Assistant-Inspector-General, the Assistant-Inspector-General-
Commandant of the Depot, the Town Inspector at Belfast, a County
Inspector, a surgeon, a storekeeper and barrack-master, the
veterinary surgeon, and a district inspector, and in relation to the
Dublin Metropolitan Police, includes the Chief Commissioner and
Assistant Commissioner :

The expression " constable " in relation to the Royal Irish
Constabulary includes the head-constable-major, a head-constable,
sergeant, acting sergeant, and constable ; and in relation to the
Dublin Metropolitan Police includes every member of that force
not being of higher rank than chief superintendent, and not being
a member of the clerical staff only :

The expression " Royal Irish Constabulary " includes the reserve
force of that body.

51. This Act may be cited as the Government of Ireland Act, 1912.

APPENDIX

219

SCHEDULES

FIRST SCHEDULE.

PART I.

IRISH HOUSE OF COMMONS.

CONSTITUENCIES AND NUMBER OF MEMBERS.

Boroughs.

Constituency.

Number of
Members.

Dublin :
College Green ....
Harbour .....
St. Stephen's Green
St. Patrick's . ...
Belfast :
East
South ..,-.-

3
3
2
3

5
3
2
4
2
4
2
1

West

North
Londonderry
Cork
Limerick
Waterford

Total (Boroug

hs) .

34

220

APPENDIX

Counties.

ULSTER.

Constituency.

Number of
Members.

Antrim County :
North Antrim

2

Mid Antrim

2

East Antrim

2

South Antrim

2

Armagh County :
North Armagh

2

Mid Armagh

1

South Armagh (including that part of

Newry which is situated in Armagh

County) .
Cavan County :

West Cavan ....

East Cavan ....

Donegal County :

North Donegal ....

West Donegal ....

East Donegal ....

South Donegal ....
Down County :

North Down ....

East Down .....

West Down ....

South Down (including that part of
Newry which is situated in Down
County).
Fermanagh County :

North Fermanagh

South Fermanagh
Londonderry County :

North Londonderry

South Londonderry
Monaghan County :

North Monaghan

South Monaghan
Tyrone County :

North Tyrone

Mid Tyrone

East Tyrone

South Tyrone

Totals (Ulster Counties)

43

APPENDIX

221

LEINSTER.

Constituency.

Carlow County ....
Dublin County :

North Dublin

South Dublin
Kildare County:

North Kildare

South Kildare
Kilkenny County :

North Kilkenny (including the
borough of Kilkenny).

South Kilkenny .
King's County :

Birr

Tullamore ....
Longford County :

North Longford .

South Longford .
Louth County :

North Louth

South Louth
Meath County:

North Meath

South Meath
Queen's County :

Ossory ....

Leix .....
Westmeath County :

North Westmeath

South Westmeath
Wexford County :

North Wexford .

South Wexford .
Wicklow County :

West Wicklow .

East Wicklow

Totals (Leinster Counties)

Number of
Members.

30

222

APPENDIX

MUNSTER.

Constituency.

Number of
Members.

Clare County :

East Clare

2

West Clare

2

Cork County :
North Cork .....

2

North-East Cork . .

2

Mid Cork

2

East Cork

2

West Cork

South Cork .....

1

South-East Cork .

1

Kerry County :
North Kerry ....

1

West Kerry ....

2

South Kerry ....

1

East Kerry

1

Limerick County :
West Limerick ....

2

East Limerick ....

2

Tipperary County :

North Tipperary ....
Mid Tipperary ....
South Tipperary ....

1
1

East Tipperary ....
Waterford County:

1

West Waterford ....

1

East Waterford ....

1

Totals (Munster Counties) .

30

APPENDIX

223

CONNAUGHT.

Constituency.

Number of
Members.

Galway County :

Connemara

2

North Galway ....

2

East Galway ....

2

South Galway (including the borough

of Galway) ....

2

Leitrim County :

North Leitrim ....

1

South Leitrim ....

1

Mayo County :

North Mayo ....

2

West Mayo

2

East Mayo

2

South Mayo . .

2

Roscommon County :

North Roscommon

2

South Roscommon

2

Sligo County :

North Sligo

2

South Sligo

1

Totals (Connaught Counties) .

25

UNIVERSITIES.

Constituency.

Dublin University

Number of
Members.

TOTAL OF BOROUGH, COUNTY AND UNIVERSITY MEMBERS : —

Borough members
County members
University members .

Total members

34

128

2

164

16— (3333)

224

APPENDIX

PART II.
REPRESENTATION OF IRELAND IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS OF

THE UNITED KINGDOM.

CONSTITUENCIES AND NUMBER OF MEMBERS.

Boroughs.

Constituency.

Number of
Members.

Dublin
Belfast
Cork

Total (Boroughs) .

3
4

8

Counties.
ULSTER.

Constituency.

Antrim ......

2

Armagh (including that part of Newry

which is situated in Armagh County)

1

Cavan

1

| Donegal
I Fermanagh

} *

Londonderry (inc
Londonderry)

ludin

I the

boroi

jgh o

f

1

JMonaghan .

} 2

I Tyrone

}

Down (including that part of Newry

which is situated in Down County) .

2

Totals (Ulster Counties)

11

Number of
Members.

LEINSTER.

Constituency.

Number of
Members.

Dublin ....
f King's County .
i Queen's County .
IKildare ....

•

2

} •
} '

1

} '
} '

} i

IWicklow ....
Wexford ....

•

fCarlow
I Kilkenny (including Borough of Kilkenny)
f Longford
IWestmeath .....
fLouth
IMeath

Totals (Leinster Coun

ties)

8

APPENDIX

225

MUNSTER.

Constituency.

Number of
Members.

Clare .

1

| East Limerick

I

I Borough of Limerick

; l

/ Kerry
(West Limerick

} *

(Cork, East

}'

^Cork, North-east

1

IWaterford, West

The remaining five Div

isions

of C<

jrk

2

J Waterford, East .

1

I Borough of Waterford

)

The remaining three Divisions of

Tipperary ....

1

Totals (Munster Counties) .

CONNAUGHT.

Constituency.

Number of
Members.

Galway (includinj
/North Mayo
I West Mayo
/South Mayo
I South Roscommc
fEast Mayo
t Sligo

I Galv
n

yay B

oroug

b)

2

} i

t North Roscommon
Totals (Connaught

Counties)

6

TOTAL OF BOROUGH AND COUNTY MEMBERS : —

Borough members .... 8

County members .... 34

Total members 42

226 APPENDIX

PART III.
ELECTION OF SENATORS.

Constituency.

Number of
Members.

The Province of Ulster
„ „ Leinster .
„ „ Munster .
„ „ Connaught

Total .

14
11
9
6

40

SECOND SCHEDULE.

STAMP DUTIES WHICH MAY NOT BE ALTERED BY THE
IRISH PARLIAMENT.

Duties on the following instruments : —

Marketable securities.

Share warrants and stock certificates to bearer (including instru-
ments to bearer on which duty is charged by virtue of subsection (2)
of section four or section five or section six of the Finance Act, 1899).

Transfers of stocks, shares and marketable securities (including
composition for duty on any such transfers).

Bills of Exchange and promissory notes.

Contract notes.

Letters of allotment, letters of renunciation, and script certificates.

Statements as to amount of capital of corporations or companies
with limited liability, and as to amount of capital contributed by
limited partner.

Statements as to amount proposed to be secured by issue of loan
capital.

Mortgages to secure debenture stock.

Policies of insurance.

APPENDIX B.

EXTRACT FROM THE OUTLINE OF FINANCIAL PROVISIONS
OF THE HOME RULE BILL ISSUED BY THE
GOVERNMENT WITH THE BILL.

Present Irish Revenue and Expenditure.

It is estimated that the revenue to be derived from Ireland in the
year 1912-13 will be as follows : —

Customs 3,230,000

Excise ....... 3,320,000

Income Tax . 1,512,000

Estate Duties
Stamps .
Miscellaneous
Post Office .

939,000
347,000
137,000
1,354,000

Total .... 10,839,000

It is estimated that the expenditure for Irish purposes in the year
1912-13 will amount to £12,354,000. The expenditure may be
divided for the purposes of this Memorandum as follows : —

All purposes not separately specified . 5,462,000

Post Office 1,600,000

Old Age Pensions 2,664,000

Charges under the Land Purchase Acts . 761,000

National Insurance and Labour Exchanges 191,500

Royal Irish Constabulary . . . 1,377,500

Collection of revenue .... 298,000

Total .... 12,354,000

The expenditure therefore exceeds the revenue by £1,515,000.

It is anticipated that in a period of ten or fifteen years the charges
under the existing Land Purchase Acts will increase by £450,000,
and under the National Insurance Act by £300,000. On the other
hand, it is estimated that within twenty years the cost of Old Age
Pensions will decrease by £200,000.

Charges upon the Irish Exchequer.

The Bill provides for the establishment of an Irish Exchequer
and an Irish Consolidated Fund.

From the Irish Exchequer will be defrayed the whole of the present
and future cost of Irish government, with the exception of the
expenditure on certain services, termed in the Bill Reserved Services.

227

228 APPENDIX

Charges upon the Imperial Exchequer.

The Imperial Government will retain the control, and the Imperial
Exchequer will continue to bear the cost, of the Reserved Services,
namely, Old Age Pensions, National Insurance, Labour Exchanges,
Land Purchase, and Collection of Taxes. For a period of six years
the Royal Irish Constabulary will also be one of the Reserved
Services.

There are provisions for the transfer to the Irish Government
of certain of the Reserved Services under the conditions stated
below.

Revenue of the Irish Exchequer.

The Bill provides, in the first instance, for the period during which
the yield of Irish taxes is less than the cost of Irish administration,
and contemplates certain modifications after a financial equilibrium
has been attained.

During that period the revenue of the Irish Exchequer will
consist of a sum transferred annually from the Imperial Exchequer,
and termed in the Bill the Transferred Sum, together with the
receipts of the Irish Post Office.

The Transferred Sum will be fixed at the outset at such amount
as will cover, with the addition of the Post Office revenue, the
present expenditure on Irish Government, with the exception of
the cost of the Reserved Services. Included in the Transferred
Sum will also be a specified sum as surplus. The amount of this
surplus will be ^500,000 annually for a period of three years, then
diminishing by ^50,000 a year for six years till it reaches ^200,000,
at which sum it will remain.

Subject to this variation in the amount of the surplus and to
certain minor variations specified in the Bill, and subject also to
any changes consequent upon the exercise by the Irish Parliament
of the powers of increasing or reducing taxation which are defined
below, the amount of the Transferred Sum, fixed in the first year
after the passing of the Act, will remain the same until an equili-
brium is reached between the total revenue derived from Ireland
and the total expenditure on Irish purposes.

Revenue of the Imperial Exchequer from Ireland.

The Bill provides that until such equilibrium is established the
whole of the proceeds of all Irish taxes shall be collected by the
Treasury of the United Kingdom, and be paid into the Imperial
Exchequer. (This provision does not apply to Post Office revenues.)

The revenue so collected should be sufficient to cover the Trans-
ferred Sum and to provide a balance sufficient to defray a part of
the cost of the Reserved Services. As1 the revenue from Ireland
increases in the future, the receipts of the Imperial Exchequer will
increase proportionately, and the yearly deficit which will fall at
the outset upon the Imperial Exchequer will gradually be lessened
and ultimately disappear.

1 The word " if" appears to be more appropriate (Author).

APPENDIX 229

Joint Exchequer Board.

The Bill establishes a Joint Exchequer Board of Great Britain
and Ireland, consisting of two members appointed by the Imperial
Treasury and two by the Irish Treasury, with a Chairman
appointed by His Majesty the King.

The duty of the Board will be to determine certain questions of
fact arising from time to time under the financial provisions of the
Bill.

The figures given in this Paper are estimates only, and do not
purport to be final. The Bill, therefore, does not rest upon these
figures, but enables the fuller returns to be obtained after the passing
of the Act, and it provides that the amounts of Irish Revenue and
Expenditure for the purposes of the Act shall be, not the figures
given in this Paper, but such sums as may be determined after the
passing of the Act, upon the basis of these fuller returns and of
the more accurate figures of Revenue and Expenditure which will
then be available, by the Joint Exchequer Board.

Revenue and Expenditure Accounts.

If, however, the estimates given above are assumed, for purposes
of illustration, to be the figures finally determined, the Irish Govern-
ment's Budget in the first year would balance as follows : —

Revenue. Expenditure.

Transferred Sum . . 6,127,000 All purposes not separ-

Post Office . . . 1,354,000 ately specified . . 5,462,000

Fee Stamps . . 81,000 Post Office . . 1,600,000

7,062,000
Surplus . . 500,000 ]

The Imperial Government's receipts and expenditure on Irish
account would balance as follows : —

Total . . . 7,562,000 Total . . . 7,562,000

erial Government's receipts and expenditure
aid balance as follows : —
Revenue. Expenditure.

Irish Revenue (exclud- Transferred Sum . . 6,127,000

ing Post Office and Old Age Pensions . 2,664,000
fee stamps) . . 9,404,000 National Insurance and

Deficit . . . 2,015,000 Labour Exchanges . 191,500

Land Purchase —

(1) Land Commission 592,000

(2) Other Charges . 169,000
Constabulary . . 1,377,500
Collection of Revenue . 298,000

Total . . .11,419,000 Total . . 11,419,000

1 Subject to subsequent reduction as stated above.

230 APPENDIX

Transfer of the Reserved Services to the Irish Government.
After six years, the control of the Royal Irish Constabulary will
pass to the Irish Executive. The Irish Parliament is empowered
to assume at any time, with twelve months' notice, legislative and
executive control with respect to Old Age Pensions, to National
Health Insurance, or to Unemployment Insurance, together with
Labour Exchanges. When any such transfer of Reserved Services
is effected, the financial burden will be assumed by the Irish Exche-
quer, and an addition will be made to the Transferred Sum corre-
sponding to the financial relief given to the Imperial Exchequer.

Loans and Capital Liabilities.

Loans made for the purposes of land purchase and loans made
before the passing of the Act for other Irish purposes will be among
the Reserved Services, and the payment of interest and sinking
fund charges will be made by the Imperial Exchequer.

New loans may be raised by the Irish Parliament on the security
of the Irish revenue. Provision is also made for enabling the joint
Exchequer Board, if so authorised by the Irish Parliament, to issue
the loans and to meet the interest and sinking fund charges by
means of deductions from the Transferred Sum.

The Bill provides for the apportionment between the two
Exchequers of liability for existing loans raised for Irish services.

Readjustment when Financial Equilibrium is reached.

When the total revenue received from Ireland by the Imperial
Treasury has been sufficient, during three consecutive years, to
meet the total charges for Irish purposes, the Exchequer Board
shall report the fact with a view to a revision of the financial
arrangements. Since it is impossible now to foresee what services
may remain at that time as Reserved Services, what loans may have
been contracted during the intervening years, and what changes
may have been made in the rates of taxation, the Bill does not
attempt to enact the modifications which may then be desirable.

It contemplates, however, as part of the present financial settle-
ment, that Parliament will then consider, on the one hand, the fixing
of such contribution by Ireland to the common expenses of the
United Kingdom as may be equitable, and, on the other hand, the
transfer to the Irish Legislature and Government of the control
and collection of such taxes as may be deemed advisable.

(The remainder of the Financial outline is no longer accurate
owing to amendments inserted during the passage of the Bill through
the House of Commons and has therefore been omitted).

APPENDIX C.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,

BELFAST, 12th June, 1912.

GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND BILL, 1912.

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, PRESENTED TO A GENERAL MEETING OF
THE BELFAST CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, ON TUESDAY, HTH
JUNE, 1912, AND ADOPTED WITH THREE DISSENTIENTS.

YOUR Council have given careful consideration to the Govern-
ment of Ireland Bill now before Parliament, and feel com-
pelled to state that they fail to find therein anything that would
lead them to modify the opinions expressed in the report of the
Chamber on the Home Rule Bill of 1893. The general effect of the
present measure, as of the Bill of 1893, would be that through the
power of taxation the manufactures and commerce of Ireland will
necessarily stand at the mercy of a majority who have little direct
concern in the commercial interests so vitally affected, and who are
without adequate experience of the science of government. Your
Council believe that the economic and social conditions of Ireland
render it signally unfit for Home Rule. The population is not
homogeneous, it is radically divided on the lines of race and religion,
and, unfortunately, the two parties are filled with distrust and
historical jealousies of each other.

The Chamber, being representative only of commercial and
industrial interests, have always endeavoured to avoid as far as
possible the controversies of party politics and religion, but when the
interests of the whole mercantile community are so gravely threat-
ened by proposals for constitutional change of the most far-reaching
character, they feel that emphatic expression of their views is
imperative.

Nineteen years have passed since the Chamber took action to
oppose the last Home Rule Bill, and all our experience during that
period has only served to confirm and justify the position then taken
up, of determination to remain an integral part of the United
Kingdom, under one Flag and one Parliament.

It is now established that had the Bill of 1893 passed into law
the Irish Exchequer would have in a few years become bankrupt,
and that the great measures of Land Purchase ^ which have so

231

*1

:>-

232 APPENDIX

materially conduced to the peace and prosperity of this country
could never have been carried into effect by an Irish Parliament.
As stated in our report on the Bill of 1893 : —

" The chief economic necessity of the country is the develop-
ment of manufactures, trade and commerce ; but the vast majority
of the population have no appreciation of the conditions under
which alone such necessities can be met. They do not seem to
know that, while a Government can destroy prosperity by
destroying security and credit, no Government can create it in
the face of insecurity and suspicion."

IRELAND'S ADVANCE. — It is indisputable that under the security
of the Imperial Parliament the prosperity of Ireland has shown a
great and growing advance. The following figures, relating only
to the period which has elapsed since the defeat of the last Home
Rule Bill, prove this conclusively. The total import and export
trade at Irish ports in 1904, the earliest year for which official
returns are available, was estimated at £103,790,799, and in 1910
at £130,888,732 sterling. Deposits and Cash Balances in Joint
Stock Banks in Ireland on the 30th June, 1893, amounted to
£34,637,000, as compared with £56,011,000 in 1911, being an
increase of £21,374,000. The figures in relation to Post Office
Savings Banks for the same years are £4,155,000 and £12,253,000
respectively ; and for Trustees' Savings Banks £1,856,000 and
£2,557,000 respectively. The gross Receipts of Irish Railways in
1893 amounted to £3,181,043, and in 1910 to £4,474,016.

BELFAST'S PROGRESS. — So far as Belfast is concerned, its progress
since the Union has been continuous. In 1783, we find its popula-
tion was 13,105; in 1891 it was 255,950; while the Registrar-
General's estimate at 1st April, 1912, was 391,051. Thus, since the
rejection of the Home Rule Bill of 1893, the population of Belfast
has increased by over 50 per cent. In 1893 the valuation of Belfast
was £741,000 ; in 1912 its valuation is £1,543,919. The total local
taxation to-day (including Water and Poor rates) stands at 7s. Id.
in the £, that of Dublin being 10s. 3d., and that of Cork 10s. 6d.
The funds at command of the three Banks having Head Offices in
Belfast were in 1892 £14,797,285; in 1911 they aggregated
£25,107,600. The amount collected by the Customs Department,
Belfast, for 1892 was £2,376,511, and by the Inland Revenue
Department about £900,000, making together £3,250,000. The
total receipts collected by the former (including duty on British
spirits) in 1911 was £3,647,686, and by the latter £1,267,691, making
together £4,915,377, being from these sources a contribution to
Imperial Revenue more than double that of the rest of Ireland, and
surpassed by no other city in the United Kingdom except London,
Liverpool and Bristol. In 1893 the tonnage of vessels clearing from
Belfast was 2,002,629, and in 1911 2,841,553. The registered
tonnage of the ports of Great Britain in 1910 was 13,361,988 ; that
of all the ports of Ireland 359,853, and of the latter Belfast holds

APPENDIX 233

upwards of 74 per cent. Belfast can show the largest shipyard,
the largest tobacco factory, distillery, ropeworks, and linen factory
in the world ; and it is satisfactory to be able to state that, according
to the latest Board of Trade returns, the rate of pauperism in Belfast
is the lowest of any city in the United Kingdom, being only 107 per
10,000, as against 296 in Dublin, 336 in Cork, 263 in Glasgow, 228
in Manchester, 220 in Liverpool, 209 in Bristol, and 210 the average
for the United Kingdom. Nor is the very gratifying record in
regard to pauperism at present possessed by our city by any means
accidental ; for many years, Belfast in this respect has been able
to claim an equally enviable position.

In considering the significance of the industrial growth of Belfast
as illustrated by the foregoing statistics, it is important to recollect
that coal and practically all the raw materials for our industries,
such as iron, steel, flax, tobacco, grain, etc., have to be imported,
and that it is outside of Ireland that the chief markets for our
products are found. The fact that our industrial growth is due to
the development of trade with England and Scotland and is also
of an international character, and further that the amount of trade
done by our shipbuilding and manufacturing concerns for Irish clients
is comparatively trivial, amply justifies our desire for the main-
tenance always of the closest relations with Great Britain and
complete association with the world-wide prestige of the United
Kingdom in which we freely participate.

It cannot be too strongly emphasised that the progress of Belfast
has been made under precisely the same laws as those governing the
other cities and provinces of Ireland. No privilege has been, or is
enjoyed by Belfast that has not been equally within reach of every
other city or town in our island.
Again, as in 1893, we ask : —

" Why should we be driven by force to abandon the conditions
which have led to that success ? We can imagine no conceivable
reason — no fault that we have committed — which could justify
the treatment which this Bill prepares for us. We are to be driven
out of our present close connection with England and Scotland ;
we are to be deprived of the power to control our own future ;
and we are to be handed over to the government and guidance
of men of whose principles we disapprove and whose capacity
has never been applied towards the practical advancement of the
material interests of the country."

In view of the country's present and growing prosperity, we have
a right to ask what is the justification for the present proposal for
so revolutionary a change ? Ireland is manifestly unfitted for an
experiment of such stupendous import as is involved in this Bill ;
nor is it rationally conceivable how the experiment could possibly
succeed. The Commercial and Manufacturing districts though so
important form but a relatively small portion of the country.
Ireland possesses neither the natural resources, the capital, nor the

234 APPENDIX

unity of race or interest capable of enabling it successfully to stand
alone without the support of Imperial credit. The following state-
ment from our Report of 1893 holds equally good to-day : —

" From Belfast, as a centre, business has spread and is spreading.
Londonderry, Coleraine, Ballymena, Lisburn, Lurgan, Banbridge,
Gilford, Portadown, Cookstown, Strabane, Dungannon, and
many other towns are closely connected with Belfast by Com-
mercial ties, and there are now millions of money employed in
the trade of Ulster, and tens of thousands of persons dependent
on it and thriving by it. The development of that trade is
entirely dependent on the maintenance of the sense of security ;
and it is useless to shut our eyes to the fact that the mere intro-
duction of the Bill, which we have been deputed to examine, has
seriously shaken credit."

GUARANTEES AND SAFEGUARDS. — Your Council are unable to
discover in the Bill any provisions calculated to allay the increasing
apprehensions already so widespread. On the contrary, there
seems to be a complete absence of any real or practical protection
from unwise or unjust taxation or from the injudicious or partial
application of taxation. The suggested guarantees and safeguards,
both religious and civil, they regard as wholly nominal, and of no
practical operative value. This view would seem to be confirmed
by the admission made by Sir Edward Grey, Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, in the House of Commons on May 2nd. Speaking
of the Imperial supremacy of the Parliament of the United Kingdom,
which the Prime Minister had referred to as the great safeguard
for the minority, Sir Edward Grey said : — " I admit that while
we preserve Imperial supremacy for purposes of this Parliament in
theory over Irish affairs, in practice we shall have to go out of our
way to exercise that supremacy. I do not wish to see this done."
Then, he went on to assure the Irish Nationalist members that they
" may rely with perfect confidence that the Imperial Parliament
will not go out of its way — unless there be some very extreme case
— to interfere in Irish affairs." So much for the safeguard of the
Imperial veto. Nor can your Council regard the nominated Senate
as constituting any safeguard or protection on which they could
rely. The Senate is to consist of forty Nominated members, while
the Irish House of Commons will contain 164, in which the repre-
sentatives of the business community are invited to appear in a
hopeless minority of about one-fifth. Should any disagreement
occur between the Senate and the House of Commons, it is to be
settled by a joint sitting of the two Houses, and the matter will be
determined by the vote of the majority. It is clear, therefore, that
should any question arise between the mercantile and manufacturing
part of the community and the rest of Ireland, even though the entire
Senate voted with the representatives of the mercantile community
(a very improbable contingency, seeing that all members of the
Senate, save the first Senate which will be appointed by the Imperial

APPENDIX 235

Government, will be nominated on the advice of the Executive
Committee of the Irish Government), they would still be powerless
to influence the result. Thus the protection offered by the Senate
to the commercial and industrial parts of the community is a mere
mockery ; and it may be plainly stated that under the provisions
of the Bill these interests would be absolutely defenceless.

The projected guarantee by way of appeal as to whether a par-
ticular Act was beyond the powers of the Irish Parliament could
only result in uncertainty in legal proceedings under an Irish Act,
as the value of a decision by the Court might remain undetermined
until the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council had pronounced
upon the validity of the Act in question. And, as the right of appeal
is not restricted to any given period, uncertainty might endure
indefinitely. Indeed, after having been enforced for years, an Act
might be declared absolutely invalid, in which event confusion
inexpressible must ensue.

The retention of forty-two Irish members in the Imperial Parlia-
ment definitely prevents a final solution of the difficulties inherent
in the attempt to separate Irish from Imperial questions ; while
the power conferred by Clause 26 to summon at the request of the
Joint Exchequer Board an indefinite number of persons — who,
though members of the Irish Parliament, would in the Imperial
Parliament represent no ascertained constituencies — to vote on the
question of the financial relations of the two countries seems to
introduce a constitutional machinery wholly unprecedented. No
indication is given in the Bill as to how these members are to be
selected.

FINANCIAL PROPOSALS. — So far as the probable effect of the finan-
cial proposals of the Bill can be estimated, your Council fear they
give openings to grave injustice in the matter of taxation, and at
the same time afford no stable basis on which to estimate a revenue.
The new Irish Government is not to collect its own revenue, but
very wide powers are given to the Irish Parliament to impose new
or differential taxation. The power to interfere with Excise duties
and in a limited degree with Customs apparently involves the
establishment of Customs barriers. It is impossible to overestimate
the extent to which this preposterous proposal would hamper the
free interchange of commodities between Ireland and Great Britain.
The authority to grant Bounties might easily be used as a mis-
chievous form of protection, and would very probably be exercised
in futile attempts to establish industries not based on sound
economic conditions.

It is to be observed that while not empowering the Irish Parlia-
ment to interfere with any question as to land purchase under
existing Acts, collection of taxes, or public loans made in Ireland
before the passing of the Bill, the Bill does authorise the Irish
Parliament to require to be transferred to itself from the Imperial
Parliament, at the expiration of one year, the Old-Age Pensions,

236 APPENDIX

National Insurance, and Labour Exchange. After ten years, the
Irish Parliament would also have the right to take over the Post
Office Savings Bank, Trustees' Savings Banks, and Friendly Socie-
ties ; and it is at once entrusted with the Post Office, which of all
Government services is the least suited for segregation. Than this,
no more retrograde step has been proposed by any Government
within the past fifty years. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and other
Canadian provinces, have abandoned their separate Post Offices to
establish one general Canadian Postal service ; the several inde-
pendent sections of Australia have followed their example, and quite
recently the South African Union adopted the same policy, which
has proved of extreme benefit to the commercial community. By
cutting Ireland off from the advantages of a general postal service
for the United Kingdom serious injustice will be done to our indus-
tries. Your Council cannot but view with the gravest apprehension
the transference of these services to the Irish Parliament.

Should the Bill become law it is to be feared that the present
system of Land Purchase, which has operated so successfully, will
be entirely suspended. Apparently, under the Bill, the Irish Govern-
ment would have a free hand to interfere with the present conditions
of tenure between landlord and tenant, both as regards rent and
continuance ; and it is manifest that any drastic reductions of
rent would be liable to create dissatisfaction among those who had
purchased on a different footing, and possibly lead to difficulties
in collecting the instalments payable under the Land Purchase Acts,
any loss from which will be a direct charge on the Irish revenue.
It is obvious that any general refusal to pay the amount of the
instalments due under the Land Purchase Acts would wreck the
finances of the Bill.

GENERAL. — With reference to Education, your Council can see
nothing in the Bill to prevent the knowledge of Gaelic being made
an essential qualification for any public appointment. It is mons-
trous that English-speaking people should by the arbitrary applica-
tion of such a test be denied opportunity of obtaining official
employment.

The determined and solid opposition of practically the whole
commercial community of the country and of so large a part of the
population of the North of Ireland to a Home Rule Government,
even if such opposition were based on ignorance and prejudice
instead of well-founded apprehension, would alone ensure its
shipwreck. No Government could succeed which had to encounter
the bitter hostility of the most progressive and industrial part of
its people.

General conditions in Ireland are not such as to give hope of a
legislature imbued with wisdom and caution derived from experi-
ence. Throughout the largest part of the country there is but a
small representation of the great middle class which in Great Britain
has been the mainstay of stable Government, and, further, the

APPENDIX 237

political machinery of those who would form the majority in the
Irish Parliament has unhappily fallen entirely into the hands of
the United Irish League and the Ancient Order of Hibernians,
whose dominance in Irish Government would be absolute and
intolerable.

Apart from political and religious differences, the overwhelming
preponderance of agricultural and rural population over those
engaged in commerce and manufacture constitutes a very serious
danger. In Ireland, the former outnumbers the latter by nearly
three to one. In England these interests are more nearly balanced.
It is easy to see how ill-advised taxation or interference with the
conditions of industrial employment by a majority wholly ignorant
of and inexperienced in such matters might bring speedy ruin on
some of our great industries, whose requirements would not be pro-
perly appreciated by the representatives of Agricultural interests.
The industrial community should not be subjected to this danger,
and have a right to insist that both in point of laws and adminis-
tration Irish industries should remain under the same conditions
as rule in the rest of the United Kingdom.

It is not open to doubt that the separation of Irish interests from
those of Great Britain, and the social upheaval which Home Rule
must necessarily involve, would inflict a serious blow upon the
commercial credit we now enjoy and which is essential to our business.

The Measure throughout seems to have been dictated by an
attempt to effect a compromise between the political exigency of
making substantial concessions to the Nationalist demand, and such
limitations on Irish self-government as the most ordinary prudence
would impose, and the inevitable result of this scheme would be
to break up the full partnership with Great Britain, to weaken
if not to destroy the rule of Imperial Parliament, and to offer
Ireland a form of constitution, which even the least important
colony would reject, and which cannot fulfil the hopes and aspirations
of the Nationalist sentiment which it is pretended to satisfy.

Introducing the Bill, the Prime Minister stated that this measure
of Home Rule for Ireland was but the first step towards some general
scheme of devolution and federation to be at some time hereafter
applied to the other parts of the United Kingdom. Your Council
most strongly urge that until England, Scotland, and Wales have
unmistakably expressed their willingness to accept for themselves
such conditions as are now proposed for Ireland they have no right
to ask us to submit to them.

With our firmly established position in the Empire we are per-
fectly satisfied. The trade and commerce of Ireland are hampered
by no qualifications or conditions which do not equally affect every
part of the United Kingdom. Indeed, it is beyond controversy
that under the rule of Imperial Parliament the country as a whole
has obtained benefits and advantages which could never have been
secured under any Irish Government.

238 APPENDIX

Therefore, as patriotic Irishmen, we protest against a change more
than ever uncalled for, and, as we believe, fraught with disaster to
our country, a change under which the peculiar industrial interests
of this part of Ireland would be at the mercy of a permanent majority
with antagonistic ideals and methods.

In conclusion, as responsible citizens of the United Kingdom, we
enter solemn and resolute protest against such unmerited degrada-
tion of our status as is assuredly involved in our being thrust out
of that full community of interest and national Life with Great
Britain which we now enjoy.

THE END

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SCIENCE

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13

THEOLOGICAL

THE PRAYER BOOK DICTIONARY. An Indispensable Volume of
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the Anglican Communion. Its scope embraces all accompanying
ceremonies and supplementary rites, the ornaments of the Church
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Formerly Vicar of St. Luke the Evangelist, Walton. Preface by
THE LORD BISHOP OF LIVERPOOL.

Articles by nearly 150 Contributors, including : — The Bishop of
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THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. NEWLY TRANSLATED WITH INTRO-
DUCTIONS, CRITICAL NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS BY G. H. Box,
M.A. Together with a Prefatory Note by S. R. DRIVER, D.D.,
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14

THEOLOGICAL (contd.)

or unnecessary alterations . . . the book recommends itself by its
scholarly character, its clearness of exposition, and the fearless,
yet reverent spirit of investigation by which it is animated."

THE EZRA- APOCALYPSE. Being Chapters 3—14 of the Book com-
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Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, In demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 488
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to English scholarship and will be indispensable to all students of
this portion of the Apocrypha." — Spectator.

THE RELIGION AND WORSHIP OF THE SYNAGOGUE. An Intro-
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THE EVOLUTION OF THE MESSIANIC IDEA. A STUDY IN COM-
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15

THEOLOGICAL (contd.)

THE KINGDOM WITHIN. Being Teaching for our Day Recorded
Exclusively by St. Luke. By AGNES STANLEY LEATHES. In crown
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FAMOUS SERMONS BY ENGLISH PREACHERS. From the VEN-
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THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST. By the late Bishop THOROLD. In
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16

THEOLOGICAL (contd.}

THE TENDERNESS OF CHRIST. By the same Author. In crown

8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d.

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style, too, has a rare charm." — Pall Mall Gazette.
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THE COMMANDMENTS OF JESUS. By the Rev. R. F. HORTON.

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character and practical religion.
17

THEOLOGICAL (contd.)

CONSIDERATIONS FOR ADVENT. Devotional Readings for the Season.
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BIBLE STUDENT'S LIFE OF OUR LORD in its Historical, Chrono-
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THE LITERARY STUDY OF THE BIBLE. An account of the leading
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THE PRACTICAL WISDOM OF THE BIBLE. Edited with an intro-
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18

THEOLOGICAL (contd.)

THE SOCIAL RESULTS OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY. By C. SCHMIDT.
Translated by Mrs. THORPE. With Preliminary Essay by R. W
DALE, LL.D. In crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. net.

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EDUCATION AND SOCIAL LIFE. By the Rev. J. WILSON HARPER,
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MODERNISM. A RECORD AND REVIEW. By the Rev. A. LESLIE
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made known to the English public." — Church Times.

BODY AND SOUL. An Enquiry into the effects of Religion upon
health with a description of Christian works of healing from the
New Testament to the present day. By PERCY DEARMER, D.D.
Ninth impression. Cheaper Edition. In crown 8vo, cloth gilt,
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THE CHURCHMAN'S GUIDE. A Handbook for all persons, whether
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and convenient guide on the many matters on which the churchman
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CHURCH ACCOUNTS. A Simple, Concise Method of Account Keeping
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" An exceedingly useful volume. ... As to its thoroughness
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it would be difficult to devise anything better." — Guardian.

19

THEOLOGICAL (contd.)

THE SOCIAL WORKERS' GUIDE. A Handbook of Information
and Counsel for all who are interested in Public Welfare. Edited
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Diocesan Social Service Committee, with assistance from Fifty
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tion which attempts to supply it. The notes are arranged in
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exhaustive." — Guardian.

HOW TO TEACH AND CATECHISE. A Plea for the Employment
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St. Paul's Cathedral Choir School. With a Preface by the LORIJ
BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER. Cheaper Edition. In crown 8vo, cloth
gilt, Is. 6d. net.

" This is an invaluable little book ... it might well be put
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A POPULAR HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN WALES From the
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It shows wide reading no less than special study. It is written
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flags. It makes the Welsh Church, in strength and weakness,
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THE LONDON CHURCH HANDBOOK. Being a Compendium of
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of London and Southwark]. In Crown 8vo, cloth, 412 pp., 2s. net.

THE SPRING OF THE DAY. SPIRITUAL ANALOGIES FROM THE THINGS
OF NATURE. By the late HUGH MACMILLAN, D.D., LL.D. In
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THE CLOCK OF NATURE. By the late HUGH MACMILLAN, D.D.,
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An attempt to bring out the wise lessons which the objects of
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Christ by the revelation of God in Nature.

THE POETRY OF PLANTS. By the late HUGH MACMILLAN, D.D.,
LL.D. In crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. net.

A collection of popular studies, showing the many points of beauty
and interest about some of the commonest of our trees and wild
flowers.

20

TRAVEL, TOPOGRAPHY, AND SPORT

THE ADVENTURER IN SPAIN. By S. R. CROCKETT. With 162
illustrations by GORDON BROWNE and from photographs taken by
the Author. In large crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s.

CASTLES AND CHATEAUX OF OLD TOURAINE and the Loire

Country. By FRANCIS MILTOUN and BLANCHE McMANus. With
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" One of the most delightful travel books that we have come
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CASTLES AND CHATEAUX OF OLD NAVARRE and the Basque
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" The book is well worth reading, not merely as a travel handbook,
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interesting section of the French people." — Irish Times.

CASTLES AND CHATEAUX OF OLD BURGUNDY and the Border
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" Their new volume strikes the reader as the most readable and
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IN THE LAND OF MOSQUES AND MINARETS. By the same
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WANDERINGS ON THE ITALIAN RIVIERA. The Record of a leis-
urely tour in Liguria. By FREDERIC LEES. With coloured plate,
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7s. 6d. net.

" The Italian Riviera ... is practically unknown to the majority
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people will appreciate the description of local customs, art and
architecture, literature and folk lore, which Mr Lees has set himself
to expound." — World.

21

TRAVEL, TOPOGRAPHY, AND SPORT (contd.)

Countries and Peoples Series

Each in imperial 16mo, cloth gilt, gilt top, with about 30 full-page
plate illustrations, 6s. net.

ITALY OF THE ITALIANS. By HELEN ZIMMERN.

" The knowledge and judgment displayed in the volume are truly
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it as indispensable as Baedeker to the traveller, as well as invaluable
to the student of modern times." — Daily Telegraph.

FRANCE OF THE FRENCH. By E. HARRISON BARKER.

" A book of general information concerning the life and genius
of the French people, with especial reference to contemporary
France. Covers every phase of French intellectual life — architec-
ture, players, science, and invention, etc." — Times.

SPAIN OF THE SPANISH. By Mrs. VILLIERS-WARDELL.

" Within little more than 250 pages she has collected a mass of
ordered information which must be simply invaluable to any one
who wants to know the facts of Spanish life at the present day.
Nowhere else, so far as we are aware, can a more complete and yet
compendious account of modern Spain be found." — Pall Mall
Gazette.

SWITZERLAND OF THE SWISS. By FRANK WEBB.

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ledge of a striking people — an admirably successful attempt. "-
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GERMANY OF THE GERMANS. By ROBERT M. BERRY.

"Mr. Berry abundantly proves his ability to write of Germany
of the Germans in an able and informing fashion. What he does
is to state, so far as can be done within the scope of a single handy
volume, particulars of all aspects of life as lived in Germany to-day."
— Daily Telegraph.

TURKEY OF THE OTTOMANS. By LUCY M. J. GARNETT.

" There could hardly be a better handbook for the newspaper
reader who wants to understand all the conditions of the ' danger
zone.' " — Spectator.

BELGIUM OF THE BELGIANS. By DEMETRIUS C. BOULGER.
" A very complete handbook to the country." — World.
22

TRAVEL, TOPOGRAPHY, AND SPORT (ccnid.}

SERVIA OF THE SERVIANS. By CHKDO MIJATOVICH.

" It is a useful and informative work and it deserves to be widely
read." — Liverpool Daily Courier.

JAPAN OF THE JAPANESE. By Professor J. H. LONGFORD. With
map.

" A capital historical resume and a mine of information regard-
ing the country and its people." — London and China Telegraph.

Other Volumes in preparation.

The "All Red" Series

Each volume is in demy 8vo, cloth gilt, with 16 full-page plate
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THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA. By the Hon. BERNHARD
RINGROSE WISE (formerly Attorney-General of New South Wales).

" The ' All Red ' Series should become known as the Well- Read
Series within a short space of time. Nobody is better qualified to
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that has yet been published. We desire to give a hearty welcome
to this series." — Globe.

THE DOMINION OF NEW ZEALAND. By Sir ARTHUR P. DOUGLAS,
Bt., formerly Under- Secretary for Defence, New Zealand, and
previously a Lieutenant, R.N.

" Those who have failed to find romance in the history of the
British Empire should read The Dominion of New Zealand. Sir
Arthur Douglas contrives to present in the 444 pages of his book an
admirable account of life in New Zealand and an impartial summary
of her development up to the present time. It is a most alluring
picture that one conjures up after reading it." — Standard.

THE DOMINION OF CANADA. By W. L. GRIFFITH, Secretary to
the Office of the High Commissioner for Canada.

" The publishers could hardly have found an author better
qualified than Mr. Griffith to represent the premier British Dominion
... an excellent plain account of Canada, one of the best and most
comprehensive yet published . . trustworthy." — Athenaum.

23

TRAVEL, TOPOGRAPHY, AND SPORT (contd.)

THE BRITISH WEST INDIES. Their History, Resources, and Pro-
gress. By ALGERNON E. ASPINALL, Secretary to the West India
Committee.

"... hence the value of such a book as Mr. Aspinall has
compiled so skilfully. Its treatment of current topics is copious,
up-to-date, and full of varied interest . . . every visitor to the
West Indies will be well advised if he takes Mr. Aspinall's book as
his guide." — Times.

THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA. With chapters on Rhodesia and the
Native Territories of the High Commission. By W. BASIL WORSFOLD,
Sometime Editor of the " Johannesburg Star."

THE EMPIRE OF INDIA. By SIR J. BAMPFYLDE FULLER, K.C.S.I.

WINTER LIFE IN SWITZERLAND. Its Sports and Health Cures.
By Mrs. M. L. and WINIFRED M. A. BROOKE. In crown 8vo,
cloth, 290 pp., with coloured frontispiece and many full-page
plates, maps, and other illustrations, 3s. 6d. net.

" This book is so full of description and useful information on
all points as to be an indispensable possession to anyone intending
a winter visit to Switzerland ... this invaluable little book."-
Throne.

RECOVERING THE " ASHES." An account of the cricket tour in
Australia, 1911-12. By J. B. HOBBS, the famous Surrey and
England player. In crown 8vo, cloth, with illustrations, 160 pp.
Is. net.

Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., London, Bath, and New York.

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14.13 The truth about home rule

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